The Age - "Gay couples use kids as trophies: ACL" by Stephanie Gardiner

A Christian group has told a NSW parliamentary inquiry gay people are using children for symbolic gains in pursuing their right to adopt.

The Australian Christian Lobby (ACL) told the Standing Committee of Law and Justice's inquiry into adoption by same sex couples that children should ideally be raised by a mother and father.

The parliamentary inquiry follows a request from Community Services Minister Linda Burney to look at altering the NSW Adoption Act to allow same-sex couples to adopt.

Under NSW law, a single gay person can adopt a child but their partner is not legally recognised as a parent.

The lobby's submission, which was scrutinised by committee members from all sides of politics, said a homosexual relationship did not provide a stable environment for a child.

"Research shows that the most stable relationship is a married heterosexual relationship and that's where there is the least promiscuity," ACL spokesman Lyle Shelton told the inquiry.

The move to legalise adoption by same-sex couples was ideologically driven by gay activists, Mr Shelton said.

"Not content with having discrimination removed, (they) are now pursuing symbolic gains and holding up children as trophies for their own agenda," he said.

Labor MP Amanda Fazio challenged the group's views on homosexual promiscuity, saying one quarter of children to married couples are not fathered by the husband.

"If you're going to use promiscuity as a basis for denying people the right to adoption, then how are you going to apply that across the board ... to the heterosexual community?" Ms Fazio asked.

"It seems to me that's just an attempt to smear gay men in their attempts to gain the right to adopt."

Liberal MP John Ajaka also questioned the group's stance on protecting the nuclear family.

"Not all children today are raised by a mother or father. Many are raised ... by one parent only. Many are raised by a grandmother and a grandfather," Mr Ajaka said.

"You've got children who have been adopted by a single person and that person may be gay or lesbian.

"How can you put that together with your concept that the normal family is a man and a woman in a loving relationship when that really does not exist today."

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