Gay adoption and civil partnerships are “right and moral”, a senior Conservative has said in a speech on the family.
Conservative education spokesman Michael Gove MP has been criticised for comments made during a speech to the Institute of Public Policy Research, a think tank traditionally associated with the Labour Party.
He said that the Conservatives had been wrong in the past to oppose ‘gay rights’ measures like homosexual adoption.
He said that “the demand for civil partnerships, proper inheritance rights and equality in adoption rights from gay couples is not a rejection of commitment but a desire to see commitment celebrated and publicly embraced. It is right and moral.”
However, Lord Tebbit disagreed with Mr Gove’s comments. He told the Daily Mail: “Every statistic shows that children grow up more likely to do well in school, stay out of trouble, and have a happier life if they have both a male and female role model.
“Too often we look at these things from the point of view of the adult rather than the child. I think that adoption by homosexual couples is unsatisfactory for the child.”
Although he backed plans to support married couples through the tax system, Mr Gove also said that fathers ought to be encouraged to take more responsibility for their children, whether they are married to the mother or not.