Italy legalized same-sex civil marriage in 2016 but stopped short of granting same-sex couples the right to adopt.
Hundreds of people took to the streets in Milan to protest moves by Italy’s new right-wing government to restrict rights Same-sex parents.
“You are explaining to my son that I am not his mother,” read one of the banners unfurled in a sea of rainbow flags that filled one of the central squares in the north of the city on Saturday.
Italy legalized same-sex civil marriage in 2016, but opposition from Catholic Church I mean, it stopped short of granting same-sex couples the right to adopt.
Instead, decisions were made on a case-by-case basis by the courts in the legal actions taken by the parents although some local authorities decided to act unilaterally.
Milan was registering children of same-sex couples conceived abroad through surrogacy, which is illegal in Italy, or medically assisted procreation, which is only available to heterosexual couples.
But the centre-left mayor, Bibi Sala, revealed this week that those recordings had stopped after the Interior Ministry sent a letter emphasizing that the courts had to decide.
“It’s a clear step backward from a political and social point of view, and I’m putting myself in the shoes of those parents who thought they could count on this possibility in Milan,” he said in a podcast while promising to fight change.
About 20 children were waiting to be registered in Milan, Fabrizio Marrazzo of the Gay Pride Party said he condemned the change as “unfair and discriminatory”.
A mother or father who is not legally recognized as the father of their child can face huge bureaucratic problems, including the risk of losing the child if the registered parent dies or the couple’s relationship breaks down.
Ellie Schlein, the newly elected leader of the center-left Democratic Party, was among opposition politicians who attended Saturday’s protest, with many activists criticizing the new national government.
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloniwhose far-right Brotherhood of Italy party won first place in the September elections, places a heavy emphasis on traditional family values.
“Yes to Natural Families, No LGBT Lobby!” she said in a speech she gave last year before she was elected president of a right-wing coalition that includes Matteo SalviniAnti-Immigration League.
Earlier this week, a Senate committee voted against an EU plan to require member states to recognize same-sex parental rights granted elsewhere in the bloc.