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 European
Court: Gays Have Right To Adopt
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
Posted: January 22, 2008 - 9:30 am ET
(Strasbourg, France) In a ruling that could have far-reaching
consequences the European Court of Human Rights said Tuesday that the exclusion of individuals
to adopt children simply because of their sexual orientation is
discriminatory and in breach of the European Convention of Human Rights.
The case involved a woman identified only as E.B.
who had been rejected by the French government when she applied to adopt a
child.
She was described in court
documents as a nursery school teacher who has been living with another woman
since 1990.
E.B applied for approval as a possible adoptive parent in
February 1998, but her application was rejected, essentially because of her
sexual orientation.
In June 2002, the highest administrative court in
France
upheld the rejection of her application and E.B. appealed to the European Court of Human Rights
which is based in Strasbourg.
The court in a 10 - 7 ruling
said that France had acted illegally by denying the
application.
The ruling noted that France,
like a number of other European countries, allows single
people to adopt. The court also noted that there was nothing
to indicate that E.B. would be an unfit parent except for
France's objection on the grounds of her sexuality.
The woman's attorney, Caroline
Mecary, said that the ruling sets a precedent for other
countries.
"Henceforth, France will
no longer be able to refuse approval to an unmarried person on
the grounds of their homosexuality," Mecary said in a
statement to the media. "The same thing will be true for
other member countries of the Council of Europe which allow
adoption by unmarried people."
The International Lesbian Gay
Association - Europe, and three other European LGBT rights
groups were granted intervenor status in support of E.B.'s
case.
"Today the court firmly established a principle that administrative officials cannot
discriminate against an individual on the basis of her/his sexual orientation in
the process of applying to adopt a child," said Patricia Prendiville, Executive Director of
ILGA-Europe.
©365Gay.com 2008
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