Lesbian Couple Fleeing Italy Over Parental Rights
metroweekly.comAgence France-Presse that they are moving due to the far-right government’s crackdown on LGBTQ rights, especially the parental rights of same-sex couples.Civil unions were legalized in Italy in 2016, but the law concerning the parental rights of same-sex couples, particularly non-biological parents, is muddy.
Encouraged by several court rulings, local mayors had begun registering biological and non-biological parents on birth certificates over the past few years.However, that was before Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni‘s government — led by the populist, neo-fascist party Brothers of Italy — began cracking down on the practice.Earlier this year, Meloni’s interior minister ordered local governments to stop transcribing certificates of children born abroad through surrogacy, citing a recent court ruling.In response, prosecutors across Italy began contesting the birth certificates of children born to same-sex parents — regardless of whether they were conceived through surrogacy or not. “It’s a nightmare,” Chiara told AFP, saying she and Christine are ready to leave friends, family, and her job in Rome and flee to Spain — which is considered more liberal on LGBTQ rights — to prevent overzealous prosecutors from attempting to nullify her parental rights.
She says Spain is “the only escape route.”Chiara is registered as the mother of 3-year-old Arturo, but is not his biological parent, meaning his birth certificate, and her parental rights, could be contested at any time.She is also not the biological parent of Arturo’s baby brother, with whom Christine is pregnant.
The baby, a boy, is due in early 2024. “The idea that this baby would be put up for adoption if Christine died, instead of being given to me, is absolute madness,” she said. “It would be an absurd brutality.”As reported by AFP, same-sex couples and single women cannot access medically assisted reproduction, such as in vitro fertilization, in Italy.
