Madam, - Breda O'Brien claims that, in the interest of children, same-sex couples should be denied the right to civil marriage. The experience in Canada, where same-sex couples were able to adopt children legally before they were able to marry legally, shows this argument is not justified.
During the hearings in the Canadian parliament on the Civil Marriage Bill, even the lawyer of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops had to agree that homosexuality does not make a person unfit to be a good parent. If the state is concerned about children, it should support families - straight and gay - that provide loving environments for children, whether they be biological or adopted. - Yours, etc,
MARTIN G. PADGETT, (Former director of communications, Canadian Human Rights Commission), Toronto, Canada.