Following news that Elton John, who visited a Ukrainian orphanage recently and expressed interest in adopting a young HIV-positive 14-month-old boy named Lev, the Orthodox Church of Ukraine saw an opportunity to attack gays, and issued a statement branding Elton a "sinner" and thanking God that he can't adopt.
Said Spokesman Father Georgy Gulyaev: "Thank God it's impossible under Ukrainian law for Elton John to adopt a child. The Church is strictly against same-sex marriages and the
damage they cause. It's written in Holy Scriptures that homosexual
marriage and relations is a sin. It is a sin, it is against nature, and it represents the dead end of human development. People pretend to have good intentions, create semi-marriages
and so-called families, and moreover they dare to adopt children.
Unlike people who are blessed by God to create natural families, these
are people who succumb to their passions. This is definitely a sin, there is no other word for it, and the
church will never agree that people who have created same-sex 'marriage' could also dare to adopt children. This applies to all, including Elton John. He is a sinner."
Earlier this week, a Ukrainian official made clear that the country does not recognize same-sex marriage and forbids anyone 45 years older than the child from adopting, and therefore would deny any request. Elton has not officially made one.
