_ MINISTER SAYS GAYS UNFIT TO

ADOPT CHILDREN

REGINA (CUP) - A hu- man rights group is call- ing for the resignation of Saskatchewan’s minister of Social Services after he said homosexual couples should not be allowed to adopt chil- dren.

“JI don’t believe homo- sexuals should be allowed to adopt children in this province, and that is the state of adoption right now,” Grant Schmidt told reporters at the provin- cial legislature October 29. “We have: more stable fam- ilies lining up for adoption and we believe we should do what’s best for children.”:

When a reporter asked Schmidt why homosexual couples would be less stable than heterosexu- als, Schmidt answered, “go and find out for yourself.”

Following this comment, Schmidt’s chief of staff, Len Schnell, escorted the minis- ter away. telling reporters, “Okay guys. end of the pro- gramme, he answered your questions.” :

“(Premier ) Grant Devine ultimately has the re- sponsibility for what his min- ister said, and the premier has got to come out and ex- plain what his stand is,” said Peter Millard of the newly formed Coalition for Human Equality.

“Are there two classes of citizens? Does he agree

with his minister of social services? And if he doesn’t he must take steps to rem- edy that. The obvious thing is to remove Mr. Schmidt,” said Millard who is also chair of the department of En- glish at the University of Saskatchewan.

But Schmidt said in a CBC-TV interview that his policy is supported by the rest of the Progressive Con- servative government caucus.

Mona Acker, a professor at the University of Regina’s School of Social Work, said research shows that gay and lesbian couples’ are as adept at parenting as heterosexual couples.

Acker quoted studies done between 1979 and 1981 based on in- terviews with 37 heterosex- ual and 43 lesbian mothers. The studies concluded that the children of lesbian moth- ers had the same psychologi- cal makeup and male- female behaviour as children of sin- gle mothers and heterosexual

couples. Erin Shoemaker; west- ern spokesperson for the

United Church gay and les- bian’ organization (Affirm), said Schmidt has no right to make moral judgements.

“As a church member I '

am concerned about Grant Schmidt arbitrarily deciding who is Christiati and who is not and on the basis of that,

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whether we're really fit peo- ple or not,” Shoemaker said.

Wayne Rorke, the coor- dinator of the Saskatchewan.

Adoptive Parents Associa- tion, said that gay and les- bian adoptive parents would be welcome in that organiza- tion. ;

“We don’t discriminate,” he said.» 2

Though Schmidt has ap- parently written off the gay and lesbian vote for the Pro- gressive Conservative Party of Saskatchewan, he has sup- port in some quarters.

‘On October 16, Schmidt and Premier Devine were presented with a pro- fam- ily award at the founding convention of the Victori- ous Women of Canada, in Saskatoon. The organization was formed after a split in the controversial family is- sues group, REAL Women of Canada.

A press -release said Schmidt was granted the award partly because he en-

sured that gay rights legisla-

tion was not implemented in |

the province.

According : to Vonda Kosloski of Victorious

ACTIVEWEAR (FOR WOMEN)

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199 Prince St. Charlottetown

892-7

Women, the minister “de- fends innocent children who have no one to defend them from a militant homosexual lobby group.”

Victorious Women op- poses adoption rights for gays because it claims a

high proportion of gay peo-

ple have been exposed to the AIDS virus and will trans- mit the disease to the chil- dren through “wet sneezes” and the exchange of body flu- ids.

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“This is a total fabri- cation,” said Nils Clausson, executive director of AIDS Regina, and English pro- fessor at the University of Regina.

“There is no scientific ev- and there lot to that the virus

idence to prove — is actually disprove

is transmitted through ca- sual contact,” said Clausson. “Statements like these show

quite a

Cont. on page 6

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= Thursday, November 26 1987