FIRST GAY COUPLE ADOPTION IN AUSTRALIA

A gay male couple in the state of Western Australia has become the first same-sex couple to legally adopt a child in Australia.

According to newspaper reports, the biological mother approved the adoption. None of the parties involved have been identified.

The Department of Child Protection’s Accommodation and Care Services told The Sunday Times that all correct procedures were followed.

“This was a local WA [Western Australia] adoption and the biological parents were fully involved in the selection process for the adoptive parents,” said its acting director David Vicary.

While gay individuals have the right to adopt children across the country, Western Australia become only the second state in Australia to allow two people in a same-sex relationship to adopt as a couple.

State Attorney General Jim McGinty, who spearheaded the 2002 changes in the law to allow same-sex couple adoption, told the Associated Press that he was pleased, describing the event as “groundbreaking”.

“I don’t think a person’s sexual orientation in any way at all influences or determines their capacity to love a child, to support that child and to bring it into a caring environment,” he said.