Elton John can't adopt Ukrainian boy

Elton John won't be able to adopt a 14-month-old HIV-positive child from Ukraine because the pop star is too old and isn't married, the government said yesterday.

Elton John won't be able to adopt a 14-month-old HIV-positive child from Ukraine because the pop star is too old and isn't married, the government said yesterday.

Adoption and gay rights advocates expressed regret about the determination by Family, Youth and Sports Minister Yuriy Pavlenko, while a children's charity had reservations about John's weekend announcement that he and his male partner, David Furnish, wanted to adopt the boy.

John announced his desire after meeting the boy, named Lev, while touring an orphanage Saturday as part of an anti-AIDS charity project.

Dream Unfulfilled: Elton John

"I don't know how we do that, but he has stolen my heart. And he has stolen David's heart and it would be wonderful if we can have a home," John said.

But Pavlenko said the adoption will not happen because adoptive parents must be married and because the pop star is too old.

The singer is 62 and Ukrainian law requires a parent to be no more than 45 years older than an adopted child.
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John and Furnish tied the knot in 2005 in one of the first legalised civil unions in Britain, but Pavlenko said Ukraine does not recognise gays unions as marriage.

"Elton John will not be able to adopt a Ukrainian child and if he files that request we will unfortunately deny it," Pavlenko said.

"The law is the same for everybody: for a president, for a minister, for Elton John."

Pavlenko said Ukraine was grateful for the singer's charity work and expressed hope that his desire to adopt Lev would spur the domestic adoption of more children with health problems, which is still rare in Ukraine.