GOODBYE, MOTHER & FATHER! NOW PARENT 1 & PARENT 2 APPEAR ON

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Goodbye, mother and father! Now Parent 1 and Parent 2 appear on PC passport formChange comes after lobbying from gay rights group

Family Education Trust: ‘Much as the equality and diversity social engineers might wish it were otherwise, it still takes a father and a mother to produce a child’

By Jack Doyle

3rd October 2011



For decades, passport applicants have been required to provide details of their mother and father.
But now, after pressure from the gay lobby, they will be given the option of naming ‘parent 1’ and ‘parent 2’.
The change, which is due to take place within weeks, has been made following claims the original form was ‘discriminatory’ and failed to include same-sex couples looking after a child.
It has led to claims the official travel document is being turned into a ‘PC passport’.
Campaigners for family values said the move ‘denigrated’ the roles of parents bringing up children in traditional families.
Norman Wells, director of the Family Education Trust, said: ‘Fathers and mothers are not interchangeable but have quite distinct roles to play in the care and nurture of their children.
‘To speak of “parent 1” and “parent 2” denigrates the place of both fathers and mothers.


‘Much as the equality and diversity social engineers might wish it were otherwise, it still takes a father and a mother to produce a child.’

The decision follows the revelation last month that details of the holder’s sex could be erased from all passports to spare transgender people from embarrassment.

The latest shift follows lobbying from gay rights groups, who argue that the current passport application form fails to recognise same-sex couples who are both officially registered as a child’s parents.
Documents seen by the Daily Mail suggest the change was made as a result of lobbying by the gay rights group Stonewall.
The Home Office ‘Diversity Strategy’ states: ‘IPS [the Identity and Passport Service] is working with Stonewall in response to an issue about having to name a “mother” and “father” on the passport application form.’
Mr Wells added: ‘Like the Labour administration before it, the Coalition seems to be in Stonewall’s grip.
‘It is high time ministers started to represent the interests of the country as a whole and not capitulate to every demand made by a vocal and unrepresentative minority.’
Gay couples are registered as the official parents of any child they adopt. Those who use surrogate mothers must apply to the courts for a ‘parental order’ in order to be recognised as a child’s official parents.
Similar changes have been made in recent months to passport application forms in the U.S., outraging traditional family groups and religious conservatives.
Officials accepted that the move was made following lobbying from gay rights groups who claimed it was discriminatory.


‘It is high time ministers started to represent the interests of the country as a whole and not capitulate to every demand made by a vocal and unrepresentative minority’But a spokesman for the Identity and Passport Service insisted it was necessary to incorporate same-sex parents on the form so that accurate information is collected.
He said: ‘IPS is planning to amend the application form and associated guidance to deal with same-sex parents applying for a passport on behalf of a child.
‘Currently, the application form provides the relevant boxes of “mother” and “father” to be completed.
‘The new form to be introduced by December 2011 will in addition provide for “parent 1” and “parent 2”.
‘It is essential that any parent provides the necessary information on their status as parents or guardians when applying for a passport on behalf of their child.

'This protects the interests of the child and ensures that IPS is able to issue passports securely and safely to the right person.
‘The passport application form is therefore being updated to incorporate same-sex parents.’
Gay lobbyists and politicians have long claimed that 10 per cent of the population is homosexual.
But figures from the Office for National Statistics last week suggest that this is a wild exaggeration.
According to the Integrated Household Survey, homosexuals and bisexuals make up only 1.5 per cent of the population.
One per cent said they were gay or lesbian, while 0.5 per cent said they were bisexual.
More men than women declared themselves homosexual, with 1.3 per cent of men saying they were gay compared with 0.6 per cent of women who described themselves as lesbian.
Some 94 per cent said they were heterosexual, 4.3 per cent declined to answer the question or said they did not know, and 0.4 per cent said their sexuality was ‘other’.


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