A new survey has found a majority of New Zealanders back changing the law to allow gay couples to adopt children. In the latest Herald-DigiPoll survey 54.3 per cent of respondents said the law should be changed to allow gay couples to adopt children, 38 per cent disagreed, and 7.7 per cent did not know or refused to answer. The NZ Herald says the result is the reverse of an online poll on its website in 2009, when 41 per cent of 7,000 voters were in favour of gay adoption, and 59 per cent were against it. While there appears to be consensus from across the political spectrum that the 1955 Adoption Act needs updating, National has made it quite clear it's "not a priority". Labour and the Greens are both strongly pro updating the law, United Future believes all aspects of the law need to be revisited; Mana is supportive, while the Maori Party believes in a family first approach to adoption, whatever the family members' sexuality. ACT says adoption it would be a conscience vote matter for its MPs. You can discuss this gay New Zealand news story in the GayNZ.com forum here
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Wednesday, 2nd November 2011 - 10:46am