Italian government directs Milan to stop registering same-sex couples’ children
“This government is the maximum expression of homophobia.’’
The Italian government has directed Milan to stop registering children who have two mothers or two fathers.
Reuters reported on Tuesday (14 March) that Milan’s mayor, Giuseppe Sala, confirmed on Monday (13 March) a letter from the interior ministry with the instruction.
The order references a 2004 law that bans non-heterosexual couples from accessing fertility treatments and prohibits surrogacy in Italy.
The announcement has stoked further concern about Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni‘s right-wing agenda.
Same-sex civil unions were legalised in 2016 but Italy still has no formal protections for same-sex parents.
Italy also has not granted adoption rights due to worry it would encourage surrogate pregnancies, which remain illegal.
The Milan prefecture, a local arm of the interior ministry, argued parents could obtain legal recognition with a court’s explicit approval of adoption.
However, this process to establish parental rights can take years.
“The ban is one of the most concrete manifestations of the fury that the right-wing majority is unleashing against LGBTI people,” said Gabriele Piazzoni. They are the Secretary General of Italy’s largest LGBT+ rights group, Arcigay.
“Meloni says that for a child to grow up well, they need a mother and father, even if decades of research say otherwise.”
Similarly, the president of Rainbow Families, Alessia Crocini, told local media the move exposed the government’s homophobia.
“This government is the maximum expression of homophobia,’’ Crocini said.
“The mayor of Milan had to give in to the pressure of the Meloni government and in the end came to a decision that is painful and unjust.”
“Meloni says that for a child to grow up well, they need a mother and father, even if decades of research say otherwise. It is insulting to hundreds of thousands of families with two same-sex parents.”
Meloni claimed victory at Italy’s election in September 2022. Though she becomes Italy’s first-ever female prime minister, her track record with LGBTQ+ rights is questionable at best.
Earlier in 2022, Meloni outlined her priorities: “Yes to the natural family, no to the LGBT lobby. Yes to sexual identity, no to gender ideology. No to Islamist violence, yes to secure borders, no to mass migration. No to big international finance, no to the bureaucrats of Brussels!”