Sun 29 Jun 2014 In: New Zealand Daily News View at Wayback View at NDHA
Jacinda Ardern MP MP Jacinda Ardern has restated her commitment to changing the law to allow gay couples to adopt children, despite a prominent gay Mana party staffer saying he fears for such childrens' safety. Jevan Goulter, long a controversial figure amongst the glbti community and who is now the Mana leader Hone Harawira's executive assistant, says in the final part of an interview published today on GayNZ.com that he fears for the consequence of "sleazy old" gay men being able to adopt children. Goulter, who was primarily interviewed about his friendship with Hannah and Brian Tamaki of long-time anti-gay equality campaigning Destiny Church, says his own experience of gay men leads him to fear for the safety of the children. " I’m young and I’ve met all those sleazy old buggers. Would I want to see them and their boyfriends adopt a child? No. Why? Because I would hate to see the statistics ten years later of child abuse quite frankly," he told GayNZ.com. "That’s why I say ‘am I against one person doing it?’ No. ‘Am I against two people?’ I have issue with that. And my issue comes back to the child. There’s nothing else. It’s about the child. And I mean we could walk down this street right now and I bet you some of the guys would have some experience with a dodgy uncle." Goulter also infers that the high rate of attempted suicides amongst glbti people compared to the general population can be traced back to the behaviour of older gay people to go\lbti youth. However, Goulter says he doesn't object to the present law allowing single glbti people to adopt. Jacinda Ardern, one of the first members of Parliament to lend political weight to calls for the country's archaic adoption law to allow same-sex adoption, says she remains "absolutely committed to, and a staunch advocate for, giving any families who want to the opportunity to provide a loving home for a child." Ardern, a Labour list MP who covers the central Auckland area in particular, says that in her campaigning for adoption law reform she has seen "countless same-sex relationships providing wonderful family environment. It's not right that the law as it is currently worded stands in the way of that." "My proposed law change was trying to put the child at the centre of any decision as to whom it should live with," she said this afternoon. "It's all about the right of children to have a loving and positive family environment"
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Sunday, 29th June 2014 - 2:21pm