Colombian Bishop Worries That Gay Dad Could Develop Sexual Attraction To His Two Adopted Boys

Earlier this week, a Colombian judge “ordered Colombia’s family welfare institute (ICBF) to return two Colombian minors to the custody of their adoptive father, Chandler Burr.” Burr, an American journalist, formally adopted the boys in March 2011, but temporarily lost custody of his children after he casually mentioned that he was gay.

But in an interview with with the newspaper El Tiempo, Colombian bishop Juan Vicente Cordoba and the country’s Inspector General strongly criticized the decision, suggesting that “the new father may become attracted to his adopted children” given his “disorder of sexual identity“:

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”.

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”.

A range of studies, including the the American Psychological Association, have concluded that beliefs that people of the same sex “are not fit parents have no empirical foundation.” Colombia is currently home to more than 8,800 children “who are deemed difficult to adopt because of their age.”