GAY couples will only be allowed to adopt children who have failed to find a home with married heterosexuals if a proposal by a Labour MSP is approved at Holyrood.

Paul Martin has provoked an angry backlash over his suggestion that married couples should be given preference over homosexuals when placing children with adoptive parents.

The Labour MSP for Springburn, and son of the House of Commons Speaker Michael Martin, is tabling an amendment to the Adoption and Children (Scotland) Bill that, he says, places “family values” at the heart of the system.

The bill was intended to give gay couples the right to adopt children jointly for the first time. It is due to have its final reading before Christmas and, if passed, will become law early next year.

However, Martin is to meet Hugh Henry, the new education minister, later this month to seek executive backing for his amendment, which he is confident will attract cross-party support.

He insists it is not intended to discriminate against gay people because it also gives married couples preference over unmarried straight couples.

“Figures show that couples, either gay or heterosexual, who are not married are more than five times more likely to split up than married couples,” he said.

“Adoption is about the welfare of the child — many children come into the adoption process having been through a very traumatic background, and we need to place them in stable homes.”

Gay and lesbian groups have condemned the move as a return to the dark days before gay people were given equal treatment under the law.

Tim Hopkins, policy worker for the Equality Network, said: “Paul Martin’s amendment is directly discriminatory on grounds of sexual orientation because it talks about marriage, and not marriage and civil partnerships. It goes against the fundamental principles of equal opportunity.

“It is also not true that gay couples split up more quickly than mixed-sex couples. The figures for civil partnerships have only been available for 11 months, but what we do know is that in Scotland the average length of time that couples who have been together who are going into civil partnerships is 10 years for male couples and 15 years for female couples.”

Sue Robertson, a spokeswoman for Lesbian Mothers Scotland, said: “This amendment is yet another sign of the complete unwillingness to accept the equality of lesbian and gay families, and also the role unmarried couples can play in adoption.

“I wish people like Paul Martin, who are putting down such amendments, would divert their energies into encouraging more people to adopt children.

“There is a huge shortage of adoptive parents and the general context of this legislation is the huge need to recruit more people to look after children who can’t be looked after by their natural parents.”

However, some MSPs from opposition parties said they would support the amendment.

“Mr Martin’s amendment has much to commend it. There can be no argument against the fact that a stable relationship is in the child’s best interest,” said Bill Aitken, chief whip for the Scottish Conservatives.

Brian Adam, SNP MSP for Aberdeen North, said: “I am likely to support an amendment which will attempt to achieve those aims.”

Fergus Ewing, SNP MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, said: “I am not homophobic, and believe that what consenting adults do in their private lives is a matter for them.

“But I do think it is best that children be brought up by a man and a woman, and I believe that those couples who choose to get married are making a commitment which means in practice they will stay together much longer than those who don’t.”

A spokesman for the Catholic Church said Martin’s amendment was “a step in the right direction”.

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