When Civil Partnerships were introduced many saw the measure as the end of the gay rights debate. Gay couples could get married, the tax system was no longer discriminatory and gay couples could adopt children. Hurrah. Progress has won. The placards aren’t needed anymore. Except it now seems that they are. MPs will vote on Monday on a measure which would make it harder, if not impossible for lesbians to have IVF treatment. Andrew Lansley thinks the need for children born through IVF to have a“male role model” should be made into law. The amendment is there to strengthen families; current IVF legislation already calls for supportive parenting but Lansley wants to go further and talk specifically about father figures.
This is ridiculous for many reasons, here are my top 3 – Just because an individual or couple has jumped through the legislative hoop and found a ‘father figure’ doesn’t mean the man is going to be around in 10 years time when the (as yet unborn) child needs fatherly influence most. Secondly, children who do not have a father figure, maybe because he died, has moved away or the child is brought up by lesbians, will still meet and spend time with male figures, at school, relatives, family friends etc. Thirdly, the amendment is anti gay. By the nature of their relationships lesbian couples are less likely to be able to provide the father figure the amendment requires. Any MP that believes in equal gay rights should vote against this amendment on Monday. If passed homophobia will be back on the statute book.
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Dan I cannot begin to quantify how strongly I disagree with this article! It is not homophobic to insist on the availability of a father-figure for children who are conceived via IVF. I’m very very sorry for lesbian couples who yearn to have children: but it is neither a biological imperative that they do, nor is it their “right” for the state to provide the means for them so to do, nor is it my duty to fund that activity, and nor, most importantly of course, is there the slightest bit of doubt that the outcomes for fatherless children are typically worse than for those who do not start life with that lack.
Anyone who knows that they were blessed by their father must look at this provision with horror. Do not feel bullied into supporting this bill because of the ‘homophobic’ assertion.