Your response to your male partner is what I would have done & said. Adoption is the only answer and if you and your partner agree start by picking a childs age versus you & your partners age to that the maturation sequence of all three of you is compatible. Then seek out an adoption agency which you have great respect and start the process of the agency providing you with what you need to know, what they need to know and the sequence of how the whole process works.
Good luck, although male / female partners are thought by many to be the "only" proper place for adoption I do not believe that to always be true. Your personality and strengths / weeknesses plus how well the personality profiles between you and your partner join together to provide a child a good and stable start in life is the most important thing. This is why I put paragraph one first. So good luck.
Hope this helps, Dave Sweeney
ps As to my own profile, if this helps, I'm 70 - married to my female bride for 48 years, have two children and three grandchildren.