The birth certificates of 33 children in the northern Italian city of Padua now list only one parent after prosecutors had 33 homosexual moms erased from official documents, in a move widely perceived as a war by the right-wing Italian government against same-sex families.
The measure abides by regulations put in place by Giorgia Meloni’s conservative cabinet, whose Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi gave judges, mayors, and prosecutors’ officials instructions to make same-sex family registrations unlawful throughout Italy.
Judges in Padua, in the northeastern region of Veneto, have therefore invalidated dual parenthood certifications carried out by same-sex couples whose children were born from 2017 onwards.
Deputy Prosecutor Valeria Sanzari stressed that the registration of two mothers on a child’s birth certificate “goes against the laws and the rulings of the Supreme Court.” As a result, the city’s prosecutor’s office formally asked civil courts to amend 33 birth certificates for female couples, requesting that the non-biological mother’s name be removed and the children’s surnames be changed.
One of the women involved in the decision harshly criticized the prosecutor’s stance. “It’s not just about repercussions on social life. But repercussions on one’s identity, which until proven otherwise is a fundamental right”, she told ANSA news agency. “(It’s about) personal trauma at a sensitive stage of development, from not having a sibling and a mom anymore”.
Giorgia Meloni’s right-wing coalition also plans to criminalize any use of surrogacy. Currently, assisted procreation involving pregnancy carried out by one person on behalf of others is already illegal in Italy. The conservative majority’s intention is to extend the ban to surrogacy carried out through women living abroad, whose children are then registered in Italy.
