|
NEWS HEADLINES
↓ WHAT'S INSIDE
|
|
|
|
|
Home » CW National » Article
|
Go back |
|
|
‘Legislation kills notion of nothers and fathers'
|
Printable version |
| By Brian Davies
12 September, 2010 |
On the eve of the NSW Upper House voting on the Same Sex Adoption legislation, the Archbishop of Sydney, George Cardinal Pell, renewed his criticism of the bill as “bad social engineering” and called on members of the Legislative Council to defeat the proposed legislation.
Cardinal Pell said the passage of the proposed amendment would “eliminate mothers and fathers”.
The bill was a re-election stunt to seek the votes of minority groups.
“Same-sex parenting orders are already available and the proposed legislation has little to do with extending even mistaken notions of human rights,” he said.
“Beyond inner Sydney it is not a popular proposal. It should be defeated in the Legislative Council.”
The bill was due to be debated by the upper house during the last week.
Cardinal Pell said same-sex relationships were already appropriately recognised and provided for by NSW and Commonwealth law.
“These laws allow same same-sex partners to fully exercise all parenting responsibilities, without severing the child’s legal relationship with his or her biological parents.
“Similarly in inheritance matters – same-sex can provide for children in their care by making a will and naming the children as beneficiaries.
“My opposition to the bill is not an attack on homosexual persons or on the ability of a homosexual person to love and care for a child. That’s not in question. The laws that enable same-sex parenting acknowledge that.
“But the right of every child to know and, where possible, be raised by his or her natural parents is not only recognised by major religious traditions but is affirmed by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.
“The cardinal said the bill’s effect, however, was to subordinate the rights of the child to those of an adopting adult. And in the absence of studies as to the long-term effects of same-sex parenting, the proposal was reckless.
“In future, perhaps children consigned to such an arrangement might sue the authorities because they were deprived of their right to care by a father or a mother,” Cardinal Pell said.
• See the cardinal’s column Page 8.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
