Australian gay adoption law will stay
The Australian Federal Cabinet backed away from intervening to overturn the ACT's new law allowing gay and lesbian couples to adopt children - despite John Howard's strong condemnation of it. Howard signalled last month that the law might be overruled, saying: "I am against gay adoption, just as I'm against gay marriage." But when the matter was considered again the intervention was rejected. The more ministers delved into what had at first seemed to some to be a relatively simple issue, the more complications arose. Intervention would have put the ACT at odds with Western Australia, which allows gays to adopt. Critics also pointed out that a ban might jeopardize the interests of a child in certain circumstances, such as when the child's parents died and a ban prevented adoption by a relative in a gay relationship.
The Age
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