By John-Henry Westen

WASHINGTON, July 14, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) – In an interview with the New York Times conducted Friday and published yesterday, US Presidential candidate Senator John McCain said openly that he is opposed to adoption by homosexual couples.

Asked: “President Bush believes that gay couples should not be permitted to adopt children. Do you agree with that?” McCain replied: “I think that we’ve proven that both parents are important in the success of a family so, no I don’t believe in gay adoption.”

McCain, who has himself adopted two children, explained: “I encourage adoption and I encourage the opportunities for people to adopt children I encourage the process being less complicated so they can adopt as quickly as possible. And Cindy and I are proud of being adoptive parents.” The Times probed further: “But your concern would be that the couple should be a traditional couple.” McCain answered: “Yes.”

The Times asked McCain all the hot button questions, which McCain answered with some evasiveness on certain items such as the evolution debate and interfering with the states on same-sex “marriage.”

“I consider myself a Christian,” McCain said, but admitted that he did not attend church “as often as I should.” He also said that he supported the faith-based programs initiated under President Bush. “I think faith-based organizations have been one of the more successful parts of the Bush Administration and I would continue it,” he said.

On same-sex “marriage,” McCain said: “I respect the rights of the states to make those decisions. I obviously am personally in favor of preserving the unique status of marriage between man and woman. And I also would point out that we passed a thing called the Defense of Marriage Act, which I know you’re familiar with, where we said that states were not required to recognize in their states the decision that other states made. In other words, if the state of Massachusetts recognized marriage between man and – had allowed same-sex marriage, that does not mean that that decision can be imposed on the state of Arizona. The state of Arizona will make that decision.”

The Times probed: “But if the state wanted to do it on the own, you would not support taking action to stop it?” To which McCain responded: “If the people wanted to amend the constitution in order to support the unique status, affirm the unique status, I certainly would support that. But if they decide not to, that’s a state decision that’s made by the state.”

On the question of teaching evolution vs. creation in schools, McCain would not reveal his personal stance but said: “I think, first of all, it’s up to the school boards. That’s why we have local control over education. So my personal view is that children should be exposed to as much as they possibly can so that they can make their decisions and be the best informed. But I really believe that school boards are elected in order to make a lot of those decisions, and I respect their decisions unless they are unconstitutional in some way or, you know.”

The full audio of the interview is available for download here:
https://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/audio/politics/20080713_MCCAIN_AUDIO/071108_mccain_nagourney_nytinterview.mp3

The transcript of the interview is online here:
https://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/13/us/politics/13text-mccain.html?pagewanted=1&bl&_r=1&ei=5087&en=c9a6104ee896e341&ex=1216180800&adxnnlx=1216062306-0doGEoTc0F3HqiMB0ilPBw#