Clause 44 — Suitability Of Adopters

Part of Adoption and Children Bill – in the House of Commons at 3:45 pm on 4 November 2002.

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Photo of Mr David Hinchliffe Mr David Hinchliffe Labour, Wakefield 3:45, 4 November 2002

May I make a bit more progress?

Having read the Hansard reports, I am puzzled about why so-called gay adoptions dominated their lordships' concerns. It seemed that, for them, the issue boiled down to that one central element. I am reminded of a conversation that I had earlier this year with a recently ennobled Labour peer who entered the House of Lords after the last general election. He told me one evening that, over the year that he had been there, the entire place had seemed to be completely obsessed with sex. As far as he could see, all they ever talked about in the other place was sex. I do not want to go into why that might be so, but it seemed to underpin those debates and to divert attention from more important issues.