By Patrick Vanderpool
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America
BOGOTA, Colombia – Last week, Colombia’s Constitutional Court announced that it needs more time to rule on the legality of same-sex couples adopting children. The court was asked to analyze the case of a lesbian couple who want one partner to be recognized as the legal guardian of the other partner’s child. According to Juan Carlos Henao, President of the Constitutional Court, many of the magistrate judges have asked for more time to study this case.
According to media reports, the Colombian ambassador to the Vatican has voiced his opposition to the same-sex adoption issue. Ambassador Cesar Mauricio Velasquez has been quoted as saying that “the criteria of a family is man, woman and child.” Velasquez also said that allowing gays to adopt children would oblige a “change of the concept of family in Colombia.”
The Bishops’ Conference of Colombia has also come out publicly opposing same-sex adoption rights, calling on the Constitutional Court to reject the case. According to the Bishops’ Conference, “the rights of children should be placed above the affective and emotional needs of same-sex couples.”
The Bishops’ Conference claims that the purpose of adoption is to “replace what was lost, namely, the child’s biological mother and father, and the child is given a substitute mother and father so he can have a new home.” Although the bishops are affiliated with the Catholic church, they claim that faith has nothing to do with their stance against same-sex adoption rights. Rather, the bishops claim this is a matter of “natural law” and “anthropology.”
A recent poll carried out in Colombia showed that “82 percent of Colombians do not support the adoption of children by same-sex couples,” a statistic that the bishops have been quick to rely on. Bishop Juan Vicent Cordoba claims that children who are raised in same-sex households will face “great difficulties.” Although he does not provide proof of such difficulties, Cordoba says that these children are more likely to “grow up to become homosexuals, bisexuals or they will have identity problems that will affect their ability to sustain a relationship.”
For more information, please see:
Colombia Reports – Colombian Ambassador to Vatican Opposes Gay Adoption – 3 March 2011
Colombia Reports – Court Needs More Time for Gay Adoption Ruling – 2 March 2011
Catholic News Agency – Colombian Bishops Stress Protection of Adopted Children – 26 February 2011
