Italy begins to delete the non-pregnant mother from the registry in the case of lesbian couples: "Children are orphaned by decree"

Same-sex unions were legalized in Italy in 2016, granting them many of the rights of married couples. However, that center-left government refrained from granting full adoption rights under the idea that it would encourage surrogate pregnancies (which are not legal in the country).. Today there are more than 13,000 such unions.

According to the 2022 ILGA-Europe rainbow map ranking, Italy is one of the Western European countries with the worst record on the rights of LGTBIQ+ people. It ranks 34th out of a list of 49 European countries. But things can always get worse.

Since October 2022, the extreme right has ruled in Italy (it won the September elections). But she's not alone. The Executive is made up of three parties: Matteo Salvini's League, Forza Italia (the party of the recently deceased Silvio Berlusconi) and Fratelli D'Italia (Brothers of Italy) the far-right party of Giorgia Meloni.

And so, the latter, already as prime minister, has given an order to annul double maternity in the case of lesbians. The Executive disapproves that these couples raise their children together and affirms that Italian laws do not allow children to have two mothers. “We want a nation in which—regardless of each person's legitimate choices and free inclinations—it is no longer a scandal to say that we are all born of one man and one woman,” Meloni recently declared.

In Italy, marriage is between a man and a woman.. Therefore, only the biological father is the father whose last name is recorded.”

“In Italy, marriage is only between a man and a woman, and therefore only the biological father is the father whose last name can be registered,” argued another member of the government, the Minister for Parliamentary Relations, Luca Ciriani.

What is the deletion of the non-pregnant mother?

Four months ago, the Minister of the Interior, Matteo Piantedosi, sent a document to local administrations to suspend the registration of newborns of homosexual couples. In the same way, a similar treatment was requested for cases of surrogacy.

According to the instruction, birth certificates indicating same-sex parents, as well as the acknowledgment of filiation by the same-sex parent of the surrogate mother, “are not allowed.”. According to the Interior, the transcription of birth certificates of children abroad from surrogacy is not allowed either.

Who applies the measure?

The measure to delete the non-pregnant mother from the registry in the case of lesbian couples has begun to be applied. Justice has begun to act accordingly. The Prosecutor's Office is formally requesting that the registry of these families formed by two mothers be modified and the name of the non-biological parent be canceled in the data of the children of both.

The most striking case these days is that of the Padua Prosecutor's Office, which has issued a list of 33 birth certificates of children born to lesbian couples since 2017, asking judges to completely remove from the records the names of mothers who did not give birth to the child.

This is the case of Elisa and Camilla, Italian lesbian mothers living in Barcelona. They denounce that the Prosecutor's Office will take them to trial to eliminate the surname of the non-biological mother from the birth certificate of their joint daughter. It will be in November when the court must decide if the children lose one of their parents for legal purposes.

What children does it affect?

The decision affects not only babies registered in recent months (since the Italian Ministry of the Interior ordered mayors to stop registering the children of gay couples), but also children who were born and registered from 2017 to the present.

And what about surrogacy?

Brothers of Italy, Prime Minister Meloni's party, has presented a bill for surrogacy to be considered a “universal crime”. If this idea takes the form of law, Italian couples who go to another country to gestate could be persecuted and sentenced to up to two years in jail.

Why did the municipalities register them?

As in other cities in the country and taking advantage of a legal loophole, the mayor of Padua, Sergio Giordani, has been registering the children of homosexual couples in the city's Civil Registry. “Since 2017 I register the birth certificates of girls and boys children of two mothers. It is an act of responsibility towards the little ones because I do not accept that they are discriminated against,” Giordani told the media.

Since 2017 I register the birth certificates of girls and boys children of two mothers. It is an act of responsibility towards the little ones because I do not accept that they are discriminated against”

Also the mayors of other cities, Milan and Rome stand out, have disobeyed the guidelines of the Ministry of the Interior. Roberto Gualtieri, councilor of the capital, maintains that registering the children of a lesbian couple, born abroad, is a “legitimate act.”

The Minister of the Family, Eugenia Roccella, does not think the same, as she assures that the problem has been caused by those disobedient mayors. However, it recognizes that a solution is needed for the children born and registered so far. In this sense, he has been in favor of a “moratorium”.

What do LGBT groups say?

The Famiglie Arcobaleno (Rainbow Families) association considers that what is happening to these children is “a shameful and unworthy act in a civilized country.”. In a statement, its members affirm that in the past years no certificate had been challenged, but that “the Government, since it took office, has acted systematically to erase the rights of children” of LGTBIQ+ families.

It is a cruel and inhuman decision.”

“These children are being orphaned by decree,” says Alessandro Zan, a left-wing politician and defender of LGTBIQ+ rights. Para él se trata de “a cruel and inhuman decision”.

If it's health, what do the doctors say?

But also medical professionals censor the way of acting of the Government and Justice. The Turin College of Physicians has sent a letter to the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, and to the Prime Minister expressing their concern, reports Corriere della Sera.

The lack of recognition of the children of homogeneous couples puts them at risk and exposes them to the danger of discrimination”

“Our appeal wants above all to call attention to the need to protect the children involved, who for no reason should become sacrificial victims or of alleged failures of the institutions or of political logic far from their reality,” the text reads.. “The lack of recognition of the children of homogeneous couples puts them at risk and exposes them to the danger of discrimination,” says the collegiate body of Turin doctors.

Does the whole right agree?

Even Alessandra Mussolini, granddaughter of the Italian fascist dictator, has criticized the decision of the Padua Prosecutor's Office. “It's like dropping a bomb on a family that hits only the children,” said the MEP. On his Twitter account, Mussolini considered that “he is attempting to break a chain of affections that is consolidated”.