Colombia’s Catholic Church and the country’s Inspector General on Tuesday strongly criticized a court decision to allow a gay U.S. journalist to adopt two Colombian boys, suggesting he may become attracted to them.
In an interview with newspaper El Tiempo, leading Colombian bishop Juan Vicente Cordoba said the new father has a “disorder of sexual identity” which will affect his relationship with his children.
When asked about Mr Burr’s suitability as a father the bishop said, “I do not know him and I am not accusing him of anything, but one thing is clear and that is that he has homosexual tendencies and he is going to receive a boy of 10-years-old and an adolescent of 13, and between them there won’t be a father-son relationship.” He continued, “He will receive two children at an age when they may be attractive to him, which could be a temptation.”
Cordoba, who is also a graduated psychologist, insisted that homosexuality was universally considered by mental health professionals to be a “disorder of sexual identity”. In fact homosexuality was removed as a disorder from the DSM — the Diagnostic and Statisical Manuel, considered the psychiatric world’s ‘bible’ — in 1994.
When asked whether the children were at risk, Cordoba suggested that it was not advisable to have allowed a homosexual man to adopt male children, given his tendencies, and that female children may have been safer in Mr Burr’s care.
Alejandro Ordoñez, Colombia’s Inspector General and known for his conservative Catholic views, supported the bishop’s opposition to the adoption, given that “there are apparent contradictions regarding the validity of his intimate relationships with same sex individuals”.
Director general of the family welfare institute (ICBF) Diego Molano said it benefits the well-being of the minors aged 10 and 13 to live with their adoptive father in the United States.
The children were removed from Burr’s care after the adoption was legally formalized in March 2011 when the writer casually mentioned he was gay.
Molano said that at the request of the ICBF Burr and the children underwent psychological tests. During the discussions the boys showed no objection to their adoptive father’s sexual orientation and stated that they wanted to be with him.
Upon hearing of the judge’s decision Burr, a journalist and U.S. citizen, said that he is happy and feels that with his case “it [the country] has advanced.”
