Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s far-right government has told the city of Milan not to recognize or allow birth certificates showing two mothers or two fathers.
Milan must not recognize foreign birth certificates of children with two fathers and must not allow the creation of Italian birth certificates that include two mothers, explained Famiglie Arcobaleno (Rainbow Families), the country’s largest organization for LGBTQ parents, in a statement. The non-recognition of foreign birth certificates is a particular blow to those who must go abroad for surrogacy, which is illegal in Italy.
Milan was the last major city in Italy to allow both parents in same-sex couples to be recorded on city registers, reported PBS News Hour. All others had already stopped after being told to do so by Meloni’s administration. Without this documentation, parents cannot do common but necessary tasks like authorizing medical treatment or signing school forms, the show noted.
Giuseppe Sala, mayor of Milan, told Reuters that he had received a letter from the interior ministry, which argued that parents could obtain legal recognition only after a court’s approval of an adoption. He said he would follow the order, but keep fighting for the rights of same-sex parents.
Alessia Crocini, president of Famiglie Arcobaleno, said, “We learned the news with deep discouragement, aware of how much this Government is working to remove any minimum right of citizenship from same-parent families in Italy.” [Google Translate version used here and below.]
Crocini also noted, “Sadly, this news is coupled with the Italian Government’s decision to reject the possibility of a European Certificate of Filiation, which would allow the children of same-sex couples to have their rights recognized throughout Europe.” Italy joined the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia this week in opposing the certificate, reported Euro News.
“Boys and girls with two moms and two dads already exist in Italy,” she said, telling the Prime Minister Meloni and Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi to “come to terms with it” (or “get over it” or “deal with it,” depending on translation). “Every day they go to school, enter pediatric studies, play in parks and sports fields, attend music classes, like all their peers, without having the rights of all their peers.”
She concluded:
This situation is not worthy of a civilized country and we wonder when this injustice will be remedied by a common sense law that reflects reality. In the meantime, we will not stop and will continue to do everything in our power to obtain the most basic citizenship rights for our sons and daughters, with the certainty that we have many alliances on our side.
Famiglie Arcobaleno, along with LGBTQ organizations CIG Arcigay Milano and I Sentinelli di Milano, are holding a protest in Milan on Saturday, March 18, at 3:00 p.m. at the Piazza della Scala. At a press conference today to announce the protest, Crocini noted, “This government’s fury against our children is shameful. Faced with the inability to solve Italy’s problems, rainbow families are used as a weapon of mass distraction. But this time the right has miscalculated: civil society is already on our side.” [“L’accanimento di questo governo contro i nostri figli è vergognoso. Di fronte all’incapacità di risolvere i problemi dell’Italia si usano le famiglie arcobaleno come arma di distrazione di massa. Ma stavolta la destra ha fatto male i suoi conti: la società civile è già dalla nostra parte.”]
Alice Redaelli, president of CIG Arcigay Milano, added:
What fear does full equality cause? What does it take away? Nothing. It is the Government that takes away, if its priority is to prevent thousands of children from having greater protection…. The children of rainbow families have the right to a peaceful development in the social fabric of Italy as happens for their peers in many other European and world countries.” [“Che paura fa la piena uguaglianza? Cosa toglie? Nulla. A togliere è il Governo, se la sua priorità è quella di impedire che migliaia di bambini abbiano maggiori tutele…. I bambini delle famiglie arcobaleno hanno diritto a uno sviluppo sereno nel tessuto sociale dell’Italia come avviene per i loro coetanei in tantissimi altri Paesi d’Europa e del mondo.”]
I wish them well in their fight, even as we continue to fight here in the United States against those who are also not recognizing our parentage.