Green MP Metiria Turei has slammed New Zealand's anti-gay adoption laws, and has called for a wide-ranging review of the “obscure and archaic” 1955 Adoption Act, reports the Sunday Star Times. While legislation bars discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, the current adoption laws make no reference to same-sex couples. “We haven't properly addressed the straight-out prejudice that law supports and kind of perpetuates,” Turei told the Sunday Star Times. Turei believes the reason the Labour-led government hasn't pursued its 2002 promise to review the adoption law is due to the Parliamentary support arrangements with the more conservative New Zealand First and United Future parties. “It's incredibly disappointing that some of the strong principles they've taken in the past will go by the wayside,” she said. Currently, a birth mother can register her female partner on the child's birth certificate, but the situation is more complicated for gay men. One male partner can apply to adopt a child, and both partners can then apply for guardianship, a time-consuming process fraught with red tape. “One of the silent griefs that many gay men have is that they will not be fathers,” says Neville Creighton of the Auckland Gay and Lesbian Welfare Group. New Zealand First is opposed to gay adoptions and the Catholic Church has said they will also oppose any reform that would make is easier for gay couples to adopt. Ref: Sunday Star Times (d)