Muscat favours gay adoption

Labour leader Joseph Muscat is not against gay couples adopting children because he believes the underlying principle is the child’s best interests. Dr Muscat said the most important thing was for a child to be in a loving and caring family, irrespective of the adoptive parents’ sexual orientation. “This situation is much better than being in an institute or abandoned in any way,” he added. His declaration comes hot on the heels of a pledge in the first week of the electoral campaign that a Labour government would introduce the right of civil union for same-sex couples while also enacting a law regulating the identification of transgender people. At present, gay couples can adopt, albeit not as a couple but when one of the two declares to be single. “We don’t need to change any laws (for adoption) because what there is at present is a policy. What is crucial to me is the well-being of the child. If a social worker says it is in the child’s interest, then so be it,” he said. “What I’m saying is that the State will no longer discriminate because we will seek the child’s best interest which for me means a loving and caring family.” He was speaking during an informal...