The Bill the NSW Lower House passed on 2 September allowing same-sex couples to adopt children is “profoundly unjust and reckless”, Cardinal George Pell said.
The conscience vote, carried by 46 votes to 44, is “profoundly unjust and reckless to place the desires of the same-sex couples to adopt above the needs and vulnerability of children”, the Archbishop of Sydney said.
Both parties allowed their members a conscience vote on the Bill introduced by independent Sydney MP Clover Moore, with Liberal leader Barry O’Farrell backing the Bill at the last minute. Two missing MPs could have swayed the vote.
The NSW Premier told Parliament that as a Christian and a Catholic, she supports same-sex adoption, something that has defied the understanding of many Catholics.
Ms Moore agreed to amend her private member’s Bill to give Church adoption agencies the right to refuse services to gay and lesbian couples without fear they will breach the anti-discrimination laws by doing so.
Ms Moore added up the numbers and decided the exemption for faith-based adoption agencies would increase the chance of the Bill being passed, a statement from Cardinal Pell’s Archdiocesan media office said.
Labour MPs and their Liberal and National counterparts remain divided on the issue. A further vote is needed for one amendment. The Bill still has to go to the Upper House to be ratified before it becomes law, and there are no guarantees the Upper House will allow such a Bill.
Many both inside and outside Parliament oppose a Bill which grants same sex couples the legal right to adopt children.
A meeting was organised in protest on 31 September by the NSW Council of Churches to oppose the Bill. Leaders of the Catholic, Anglican and Presbyterian churches together with the Wesley Mission wrote to all members of the NSW Parliament outlining their concerns. As a co-signatory, Cardinal Pell wrote: “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 we represent and has been recognised and affirmed by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.
“The ability of a homosexual person to love and care for a child as a father or mother is not in question. As a couple, however, two persons of the same sex are not able to provide a child with the experience of both mothering and fathering. This is not a case of unjust discrimination against same-sex couples, but of the capacity of the couple to provide a child with the unique and complementary nurturing of a father and mother.”