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."