My apologies to all that i put this out there and have not been engaged in the discussion. My amazing telstra wireless broadband has been poor for a month now and for the last three days has not worked at all. Brilliant service in the bush.
I will try to respond to the posts tonight if i am back on line.

Dear Foxy,

Thank you for your reply. I understand and respect your opinion about my perspective on this rather sensitive topic.

At this point I'd like to be clear on two things.

The first is is that even though I strongly believe that homosexuality is NOT normal or moral I do in fact have a few friends and colleagues that are homosexual. My exposure to people of homosexual tendencies is anything but minimal. From a social, physiological and moral point of view- i do believe that it is a sickness that needs to be addressed and not flaunted or encouraged in sometimes confused youth.

No mortal is without sin and no person has a right to judge.

The second point I'd like to make is that at the very core of this debate is the welfare of an innocent child that must be taken into account paramount to the demands of the homosexual. A child has a born right to a mother and father and this is something that must be central in this debate. It is a tragedy that children are the currency of this political negotiation- as if they don't already have enough to deal with these days.

This topic is not about homosexual legitimacy but more so the rights of children.

Have a good day Foxy and Happy fathers day to all those fathers out there :)

I have been away due to circumstances beyond my control. I return to find two articles written by Warwick Marsh and Bill Muehlenberg yet again demonising gays and lesbians (and straight adoptive parents) and now this nasty piece. I tire of pointing out that same sex couples are as capable of of love and compassion as anyone else.

However, this morning a terrific doco was present on Radio National regarding the extraordinary changes towards abortion and gays in Latin America - a must-listen for enquiring minds. For those with closed minds, it will not make a stick of difference, However, it is worth pointing out that the Catholic Church was so incensed by the granting of safe abortion for women that it made a pact with Muslim clerics! Absolutely true, listen to the doco:

http://www.abc.net.au/rn/backgroundbriefing/stories/2010/2997472.htm

Dear bach,

Thank You for taking the time and effort
to explain things from your point of view.
And for saying that you understand mine.

"Love and marriage," an old popular song tells
us, "go together like a horse and carriage."
A compelling assumption in our society is that
everyone will fall in love, will marry, will
have children, and will have an emotionally satisfying
lifetime relationship with the chosen partner.

However, in today's society -
the Australian family is undergoing alterations
and change and its not going to be halted by laws or
sermons. The changes are perhaps more extensive than
is generally realized. We no longer have a husband who
works and a wife who stays at home to care for their
two dependent children as the norm. It probably exists
in fewer than every five households. We have single-parent
families, open marriages, cohabitation, serial monogamy
(people who marry more than once), reconstituted families
(put together from fragments of previous families), childless
couples, and of course gay couples and gay-parent families,
as well as people remaining single.

What seems to be happening is that our society is
tolerating a variety of alternative marriage and family styles.
As I stated earlier this is possibly due to our economic
and cultural diversity, combined with a highly developed
sense of individualism.

In this environment, people tend to make decisions about
marriage, divorce, child-rearing and the like in terms of
what they, personally want - rather than in terms of
traditional moralities, or the other pressures that
previous generations unquestioningly accepted. Therefore
whether we approve or not it won't make an iota of difference,
many Australians will continue to modify the family system
to suit their individual needs.

Any society which allows homosexuals to raise children, contrary to nature, is close to a moral abyss..no..it is already at the edge.. and is in the process of falling over.

Any such society will reap the 'reward' of such moral degradation, but like smoking, you can do it for a long time before the medical problems arise.

It should be patently obvious that where Gay couples want to adopt children the furthest thing in their minds is the welfare of the child.
No..it's their own selfish desire for validation and social acceptance.

When they fully know that a child can only be produced from male female intercourse, (or the medical equivalent) they should not even consider trying to raise a child into a family which by definition is contrary to that fundamental law of nature.

Shame on anyone who would subject a child to the predictable bullying and teasing from others where the mechanics of homosexual practice would be flailed upon the child by merciless schoolyard loudmouths.

As I said.. gay adoption is NOT about 'best interests of the child'

Hi Foxy,

Please understand that ultimately this whole discussion is about the best interest of the child.

I'm not sure where you got those statistics from, but regardless, you go on to describe the nature of the social complexity of new age relationships. I understand that. It is sad and unfortunate that today people cannot form life long normal loving nurturing relationships like our parents and grandparents did many years ago.

However, though this might be the case it is still painfully obvious that the most of ideal environments to raise a child in is within a family headed by their biological parents.

It's only to the detriment of the child and by extension to society that we in Australia (and around the world) have let the safe nurturing and protecting environment of an immediate family disintegrate in and sometimes fragment, rebond and polybond to the multitudes of less than ideal and sometimes dysfunctional and unfit relationships allow adoption to.

A child needs the love and protection of their real parents and if those real parents are void then at least we should draw the line and say that only a married heterosexual couple should be allowed to adopt.