Very good news

This is as good news as it is significant. In Mallorca, adoptions of children by homosexuals now exceed those of heterosexuals, as our colleague Marcos Torío informs us in a magnificent snapshot of what adoption is like today and here. And if it's such good news, it's because it speaks to a society that is advancing in rights and normalizing family diversity. A society that has normalized the rights of all people to love, care for, educate, and form a family, if they want and can.

It's also good news because it was unthinkable just a few decades ago. Not because homosexuals didn't want to have children without having to pretend to be something they weren't, but because they weren't allowed to. Today they can do so, and they do, with the same commitment and desire as any other person or couple. People and families should all have equal rights, but no two are essentially the same. The fact that there are more and more diverse families, visible, happy or not, is a collective achievement. However, like all rights achieved, it is not irreversible. That's why we must remember not to go backwards. That this right doesn't affect anyone. That it doesn't subtract, but rather adds. That it makes society as a whole better.

The normalization of equality in adoption contrasts with practices like surrogacy, which turn the desire to become a parent into an economic transaction that ignores the dignity of women. Adoption, by any couple or person with the capacity to appreciate, however, is an act of responsibility and generosity. However, what is happening today in Mallorca is not a revolution. It is one more step in a process of justice and equity. And yes: it is very good news.