France Can Bar Adoption By Gays

France can refuse homosexuals the right to adopt children, the European court of human rights ruled yesterday in a long-awaited decision that was instantly condemned as outmoded and unjust by gay rights groups.

The court's seven judges ruled by four to three that France had not infringed the European convention on human rights by rejecting an adoption request by Philippe Fretté, a Paris teacher, on the grounds that he was gay.

Paris social services found that Mr Fretté's"clear personal qualities and aptitude for raising children" meant any child "would probably be happy with him", but they said he was unable to prove that he could offer "a suitable home from an educational, psychological or family perspective".

Mr Fretté, 47, had exhausted all appeals in France. He argued that France's decision was based "solely on an unfavourable prejudice", and that French law authorises adoption "by married and single persons aged over 28 years", but makes no mention of their sexual orientation.

The European court, however, said that France must be allowed "a certain leeway", noting that "child psychiatrists and psychologists are divided about the consequences of a child being raised by one or more homosexual parents".

The judges from Britain, Austria and Belgium put forward a dissenting opinion: "Unless homosexuality is seen as a counter-indication in itself, Mr Fretté's homosexuality could only justify such a refusal if it was accompanied by behaviour prejudicial to the raising of a child," they wrote.

Mr Fretté is expected to appeal to the Strasbourg court's upper chamber.