I’ve been wondering about the adoption piece. Lots of rowing between the Cabinet, but this is one of the things that Labour used to avoid: having a massive public debate about something the rest of the UK doesn’t care much about.

There is definitely a spectrum here. I wouldn’t want a Catholic Adoption Agency (CAA) say “we won’t let you adopt because you are black”. For “black” you could substitute “remarried”, “a lover of long-hair cats” or “a muslim”.

I would feel uncomfortable, but rationally see the sense in a CAA saying “we won’t let you adopt because you are disabled” or “because you were too old” (assuming there was a link between the disability / age and the child’s welfare).

So it isn’t black and white. However, the issue is that you can’t reject someone as an adopter out-of-hand without a clear, unbiased process that can be appealed. That’s the problem with the CAA and homosexuals. They don’t have a clear process to show why / how / if / joking? being brought up by a same-sex couple is a detriment to an adopted child’s welfare.