Gays Will Not Have Right to Adopt, Legislation Proposes
The Comisión de la Niñez y la Adolescencia de la Asamblea Legislativa is preparing to discuss a reform to Article 107 of the Código de Familia (family code) that would eliminate the possibility for gays to adopt children.

The proposal was presented by legislator Guyón Massey, of the Restauración Nacional party, that clears prohibits gays and lesbians to adopt minor children.

The legislator feels there is a loophole in the current legislation which does not clearly establish that the adopting parents must be of opposite sex as the accepted constitutional and legal provisions for a heterosexual marriage.

Massey says that his proposal is not against gays, but rather to defend the rights of minors and protect them from uncomfortable situations that can cause trauma in the development of the child. The legislator says that children who have been adopted by same sex partners, suffer confusion and social pressures.

The proposal has support, especially in former Ombudsman, now legislator for the Partido Unión Nacional, José Manuel Echandi.

Echandi explained that, though the rights of gays must be respected, they should not have the right to adopt minors. Echandi reinforced that the prohibition is to protect the rights of children and not against gays.