Australia: MP scolds gays who have children

The Canberra Times

Deliberately creating a child to be laced in a homosexual relationship is irresponsible, a Queensland Liberal backbencher says.

''Children need a mum and a dad,'' Stuart Robert told Parliament last night, addressing a Bill that changes many Commonwealth laws to remove discrimination against same-sex couples and their children.

Mr Robert said a study in Norway and Sweden, which introduced similar legal protections, found gay male unions were 50per cent more likely and lesbian unions 167per cent more likely to separate in the first eight years.

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Note: Mr. Robert seems to have missed the fact that about half of the divorces in Australia involve heterosexual couples with children!

United Kingdom: Gay Divorce Rate less than One Percent

By Tony Grew
Pink News UK

Between December 2005, when gay and lesbian couples gained the legal right to formalise their relationships, and December 2007, there were 24,629 civil partnerships in England and Wales.

Figures obtained by PinkNews.co.uk show that less than 250 lesbian and gay civil partnerships have ended in a dissolution.

"This is a small number and it confirms that many people entering into civil partnerships take it very seriously indeed."

"Certainly there is no credible evidence that lesbian and gay people do not live in stable relationships."

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Judge raises constitutional issue in R.I. gay divorce case

The Associated Press

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — A Superior Court judge has refused to hear the divorce case of a lesbian couple, but questioned whether the law that barred the women from ending their marriage unconstitutionally denied them a right enjoyed by heterosexual Rhode Islanders.

The Rhode Island Supreme Court last year ruled that the state's family court could not grant a divorce to Margaret Chambers and Cassandra Ormiston, who wed in 2004 in Massachusetts soon after same-sex marriage became legal in that state.

The justices said the state statute that created the family court recognized marriage as between only a man and a woman and the court, therefore, could not divorce a same-sex couple.

Chambers then sought a divorce in Superior Court. Judge Patricia Hurst denied the request on Wednesday, saying her court does not have jurisdiction to handle divorce.

But she also questioned the constitutionality of the statute relied on last year by the Supreme Court.

"It seems to me that this is a matter needing immediate attention and one that very plainly belongs in the hands of the legislature and the executive branch," Hurst said.

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