The debate regarding Catholic adoption agencies, and the right of gay couples to adopt rages on.

This is hardly a tricky one. Of almost 4000 adoptions which took place last year, 85 were by gay couples. As one male gay friend who has been in a long term relationship for over ten years, and who had no desire to adopt told me, “I don’t have this body clock ticking away urge to be a parent”. He informed me that every lesbian couple he knew who wanted to be parents did so, or talked of being so, via donor sperm, not adoption.

If a gay couple wishes to adopt, they can do so, just not from a Catholic adoption agency. They can start at the same point the 85 which have taken place in the last year started at. The process begins with a phone call to the adoption services team within your local social services department.

To force a Catholic agency to provide babies for adoption to gay couples, denies that agency of the right to its own beliefs. It’s not about denying a presumed right to gay couples, it’s about upholding the rights of an established Christian religion.

Why is the state interfering? In a multi-cultural society which is now home to so many beliefs, religions and cultures, how can one modus operandi cast in stone possibly keep everyone happy? Is it not better to provide a framework within which flexibility and tolerance can flourish in harmony?

The government have successfully created divisions between the established churches and the gay community for no good reason. Worse than this, they have done so at a time when teaching tolerance of each others religions, beliefs and values should be paramount, in order that we can all live in a safer and less judgemental society.

What on earth is this row about? If the government gets its way the Catholic Church will be forced to close down its seven adoption agencies. Que Bene? Who benefits?