UNMARRIED AND SAME-SEX couples in Northern Ireland should be allowed to adopt children, a Belfast judge ruled today rejecting a 1987 adoption law that discriminates against both groups.

Gay rights activists praised the ruling in favour of a lawsuit pursued by the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission. But Health Minister Edwin Poots, an evangelical Protestant opposed to gay partnerships, said the government would appeal.

“It is my intention to urgently appeal this judgment and I am taking this action with a heavy heart,” said Poots, who called the ruling against the best interests of children.

Belfast High Court Justice Seamus Treacy ruled the law clearly violated European human rights laws on privacy and discrimination.

Other parts of the United Kingdom already permit gay and unmarried heterosexual couples to adopt children. But Northern Ireland’s law restricts applicants to married couples and single adults, including people who are gay.

Northern Ireland’s chief commissioner for human rights, Michael O’Flaherty, said the successful lawsuit “sought to protect the best interests of the child. Given the high numbers of children in care, who need a family in Northern Ireland, the importance of this case in widening the pool of prospective parents cannot be overstated.”

More than 2,500 children in Northern Ireland are in state care awaiting adoption.

John O’Doherty, director of a Northern Ireland gay rights group called the Rainbow Project, denounced the government plans to appeal the judgment as “wasting public money on a fool’s errand.”

He accused Poots of “allowing his personal prejudices to influence his public responsibilities.”