Defenders of the traditional family unit in Canada continue to speak out after the Ontario Court of Appeal ruled that a five-year-old boy has three legal parents - a father, mother and her lesbian partner.

The Appeals Court, overturning an emphatic lower court ruling, granted the boy's father, biological mother and the mother's lesbian partner equal rights and responsibilities under law, in a decision released on Jan 2, reports Canada's LifeSite News.

"This ruling clearly shows the extent to which the homosexual activists will pursue their agenda regardless of the welfare of children," said Jim Hughes, National President of Campaign Life Coalition (CLC), in a statement released following the ruling.

A lower court ruling on the case in 2003 said the Ontario Children's Law Reform Act could not be interpreted as recognising more than two persons as parents by birth or adoption. In his ruling, Justice David Aston said at the time that allowing more than two parents "might open the floodgates to similar claims from step-parents or members of the child's extended family".

"If a child can have three parents," Aston wrote, "why not four or six or a dozen? What about all the adults in a commune or a religious organisation or sect? Quite apart from social policy implications, the potential to create or exacerbate custody and access litigation should not be ignored."

While the Appeal Court agreed, the Court also found that the existing law did not take into account changes to Canadian society which affected parenting, leaving a sufficiently serious "gap" to require the intervention of the court. The lower court ruling was overturned and all three persons in question were granted parental rights, LifeSite reports.

"The courts must not continue to acquiesce to the homosexual agenda, but rather, must consider the fact that a child deserves a father and a mother in a stable relationship for the child's nurturing," said Mary Ellen Douglas, National Organiser of Campaign Life Coalition, in response to the decision.

"Attacks on the family unit will ultimately lead to the destruction of our society. Where will the line be drawn on such multiple parent rulings, and what is the future environment for our children?"

The Catholic Civil Rights League participated in the case as an intervener as part of the Alliance for Marriage and Family.

Responding to the Appeal Court decision, the League's President Phil Horgan said, "It is clear that courts will be asked to fill in many gaps that exist in traditional understandings of family, as a result of changes to the definition of marriage, and parent, in Canadian law."

He continued: "Canadian courts have recognised lesbian parents on birth certificates to the exclusion of any father in the past year.

The Court of Appeal has now expanded the number of recognised parents to three in this case. Future cases can be expected to ask to expand that number. In this case, the obvious question is that if a child can have three parents, who is to say three is the limit?"

The League added that the effect of such triple-parent arrangements on children is entirely unknown and there is no clarity as to what will happen to the children if the adults' relationships should break down.

The Court of Appeal's decision was written by Justice Marc Rosenberg on behalf of Justice Jean-Marc Labrosse and activist Justice Roy McMurtry, whose ruling in 2003 on the Halpern case effectively opened the door to homosexual "marriage" in Canada.