A Ukrainian official has denied Sir Elton John’s request to adopt a 14-month-old HIV-positive Ukrainian boy, saying the 62-year-old pop superstar is too old and is not married, The Associated Press reports.

According to the article, John said that he and his partner David Furnish wanted to adopt the boy, named Lev, after a visit to an orphanage. However, since Ukraine requires parents looking to adopt to be married and does not recognize same-sex unions as marriage, Family Youth and Sports Minister Yuriy Pavlenko denied the request.

Pavlenko also said that John is too old to adopt; Ukrainian law requires an adoptive parent to be no more than 45 years older than the child.