The Press this morning has a good piece on what the ban on gay adoption actually means: people not being legal parents of their own kids:
Canterbury University lecturer Dr Linda-Jean Kenix believes she and her long-term partner, Jennifer Kenix, have been left "in a [legal] black hole".This is simply insane. These people are a family, and Kenix is the child's parent in every way that matters. But thanks to a bigoted law, this cannot be legally recognised, threatening a hideous legal mess if anything bad happens. That's bad for families, its bad for children, and it simply denies the reality of gay parents. This law needs to change.
The couple have two children. Linda-Jean Kenix's biological son, aged 4, was born in the United States and legally adopted by Jennifer Kenix. However, the pair's daughter, aged 3, was born in New Zealand to Jennifer, meaning Linda-Jean Kenix could not adopt her.
"We can't [adopt] because we're here in New Zealand," Linda-Jean Kenix said.
Update (2017): This post originally contained the names of the children concerned as part of the quote. It has been drawn to my attention that the Christchurch Press has removed these names out of concern for their privacy. On request from the subject of the article, I have updated the quote to the current version in the article.
