by Tony Rucinski, Coalition for Marriage
A Montreal ‘throuple’ of three homosexual men has adopted a three-year-old girl through Quebec’s child protection services and now seeks recognition as three legal parents. This push stands upon a 2025 Quebec Superior Court ruling ordering the Civil Code to be changed to allow more than two legal parents.
In the judge’s words, limiting filiation to two parents “sends the message to multi-parent families and to society in general that only so-called ‘normal’ families, with a maximum of two parents, represent valid family structures worthy of legal recognition”.
This matters in the UK because policy about what counts as ‘family’ shapes practice in adoption and surrogacy. And we’re moving in the same direction.
England’s latest official figures show that 2,980 children were adopted from care in 2023–24, with 20% placed with same-sex couples. Sector guidance explicitly aims to “increase the number of LGBTQ+ adopters” through targeted recruitment and practice standards. Meanwhile, Law Commission proposals on surrogacy would create “a new pathway to legal parenthood” so intended parents become the legal parents from birth.
Outcomes for children cry out against this. The strongest results still show the gold standard is being raised by one’s married mum and dad.