Father's Day

+ Cardinal George Pell, Archbishop of Sydney
5 Sep 2010

It was sad that the week before Fathers Day was used by the NSW Legislative Assembly to pass 45 to 43 the Same Sex Couples Adoption Amendment, which eliminates mothers and fathers.

This measure was a re-election stunt to seek the votes of minority groups, had little to do with extending even mistaken notions of human rights (same-sex parenting orders are already available) and clearly subordinated the rights of the child to those of an adopting adult.  Why should a mother, already saddened and stressed by giving over her child be forced to consent to adoption by a same sex couple?
 
In the absence of studies of the long term effects of same-sex parenting on children, these amendments are reckless.  In the future could children consigned to such an arrangement be sueing the authorities because they were deprived of their right to care by a father or a mother?

Every child has the right to know and be raised by his or her natural parents, as far as possible.  This right is recognised by the major religious traditions and has been recognised and affirmed by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.  It is imperative that adopted children are also able to know the complementary love and care of both a father and a mother.

Our opposition to the Bill is not an attack upon homosexual persons or on the love and commitment of single parents who are raising their children, often in difficult circumstances.  We acknowledge that, sadly, some marriages and families break down and it is not always possible for children to be raised by a loving father and mother.  The ability of a homosexual person to love and care for a child is not in question.  This is not a case of unjust discrimination against same-sex couples, because such a couple is unable to provide a child with the unique and complementary nurturing of a father and a mother.

Same-sex relationships are already appropriately recognised and provided for by New South Wales and Commonwealth law.  These laws allow same-sex partners to exercise fully all parenting responsibilities, without severing the child's legal relationship with his or her biological parents.  With regard to inheritance matters, same-sex partners are already able to provide for children in their care by making a will and naming the children as beneficiaries.

The amendment represents bad social engineering.  It is not popular outside inner Sydney and should be defeated in the Legislative Council.