Anti-LGBT Christian group wrapped up in gay parent adoption row
A husband and wife have claimed that their chances of adopting two foster children already in their care were skewed when they expressed the opinion that the children should have a “mummy and daddy”, not gay parents.
The straight couple have two young children in their foster care and requested to fully adopt the children after they were “concerned” about the possibility of a same-sex couple becoming the adoptive parents.
The Sunday Times reported that the couple have allegedly been prevented from adopting the children because of their views.
Andrea Williams, chief executive of Christian Concern, is standing by the straight couple. She said: “This couple’s viewpoint is lawful and mainstream.”
Christian Concern is a notoriously anti-LGBT collective, having recently called for the progress on LGBT rights to be rolled back following the Brexit vote.
Williams is at the front of the anti-LGBT group, who claim they have 80,000 supporters.
The evangelical group have urged the Church to expel all gay priests and ask that it teach homosexuals to ‘repent’ their sexuality.
Williams has also attacked gay rights group Stonewall, and claimed that Education minister Nicky Morgan is playing into the hands of a gay “Trojan Horse” by backing campaigns to stop homophobic bullying in schools.
Campaigners including Williams have called the treatment of the heterosexual couple disturbing, citing that people could be penalised by the authorities for expressing support for “traditional parenting.”
The straight couple said that they have always wanted to adopt the children, and have since wrote to the council to protest being barred from being considered as potential adopters on what they believe is the basis of “some opinions” and “views” they expressed.
They stressed they had “not expressed homophobic views, unless Christian beliefs are, by definition, homophobic.”
The couple have had the children in their care since the beginning of the year, but when they were told a gay couple were put forward as adoptive parents they found the idea “challenging.”
The couple admitted they “expressed a degree of shock and asked if this was a ‘joke’.”
Two days after being told the children would potentially have gay adoptive parents, the straight couple formally applied to adopt the children.
They said this would be the “best option for them [the children] and their emotional wellbeing.”
The husband and wife also stressed that they were both “highly educated people” with a “very mature and stable relationship with each other and a great parental relationship” with their other children.
However, the council said that “having heard that the prospective adopters were a same-sex couple you shared some opinions in relation to this proposed placement which are concerning and which would not enable the service to progress an inquiry to be assessed as prospective adopters, as these views could be detrimental to the long-term needs of the children”.
