Elton John speaks out on being stopped from adopting Ukrainian orphan

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Elton John said meeting a Ukrainian orphan in 2009 inspired him and husband David Furnish to adopt — but they weren’t allowed to because of their sexuality.

The “Rocket Man” crooner revealed on Dua Lipa’s podcast over the weekend that they were denied the opportunity to adopt a then-14-month-old, HIV-positive baby named Lev.

“I was carrying this little boy around for hours. We had a press conference at the end and they said, ‘You seem very fond of this little boy. Would you think of adopting him?’ and I went, ‘I’d actually love to!’” he recalled on “Dua Lipa: At Your Service.”

“Because I was gay, I wasn’t allowed to anyway,” he shared. “After that happened, David said, ‘Well, what do you think about having kids?’ I always said no but this little boy was telling me something. He was saying ‘C’mon you can be a dad,’ and that’s when we decided to have children, because of this little boy in Ukraine.” 

Ukrainian law requires an adoptive parent to be no older than 45, significantly younger than the British singer, who was 62 at the time. The law also requires parents to be married, but Ukraine does not recognize gay union as marriage, according to News Hub.

“Elton John will not be able to adopt a Ukrainian child and if he files that request we will unfortunately deny it,” Ukraine’s Family, Youth and Sports Minister Yuriy Pavlenko said at the time. “The law is the same for everybody: for a president, for a minister, for Elton John.”

John, now 75, and Furnish, 59, share two children: 9-year-old Elijah and 11-year-old Zachary. 

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