(Rome) For fear of losing her parental rights, Chiara chose to leave Italy and the far-right government of Giorgia Meloni, hostile to same-sex parents.
“It’s a nightmare,” this 46-year-old woman, mother of a three-year-old boy, told AFP. With his partner Christine, they see the “only way out” of leaving their friends, their family and their work in Rome for Spain.
Italy legalized civil unions in 2016, but the law on parental rights for same-sex couples keeps things unclear. Encouraged by several court decisions, municipalities have in recent years recorded biological and non-biological parents on birth certificates.
But in January, the interior minister banned town halls from transcribing the records of children born abroad through surrogacy, citing a recent court ruling. In the process, prosecutors began challenging the birth certificates of children born to same-sex parents.
PHOTO TIZIANA FABI, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Chiara is registered as Arturo’s mother, but not being his biological parent, her birth certificate and rights could be challenged at any time. The same goes for his rights regarding his second son, who is due to be born in early 2024.
The idea that this baby would be put up for adoption if Christine died, instead of given to me, is pure madness.
Chiara
Hopes at half mast
In recent years, Italy’s highest court has asked Parliament to clarify the parental rights of same-sex couples. Without success.
Same-sex couples and single women do not have access to surrogacy (GPA) and there is no law providing for the registration of children conceived abroad by homosexual mothers who give birth in Italy.
In 2016, Italy’s highest court upheld the transcription of a foreign birth certificate mentioning two mothers. And local courts ruled in 2018 that lesbian women taking parental responsibility for their partner’s child should have the same rights as heterosexual men whose partners use donor sperm.
The mayors of Milan, Turin, Rome, Naples, Florence, Bologna and Bari called on Parliament to legislate as quickly as possible.
But in a predominantly Catholic country, the inaction of successive governments has dampened the hopes of activists. A pessimism reinforced by the coming to power of the Meloni government.
The leader of the far-right Fratelli d’Italia party, who claims to be a “Christian mother”, denounces “gender ideology” and the “LGBT lobby” and says children should only be raised by heterosexual parents .
“Like an aunt”
This year, judges in Milan and Bergamo ruled that the birth certificates of children born to same-sex parents must be changed.
A prosecutor in Padua (northeast) even ordered the city to retroactively remove the names of non-biological mothers from birth certificates dating back to 2017.
Judges are currently deliberating on changing the certificates of 37 children, the oldest of whom is six years old. Among those affected are Alice Bruni and her Irish partner Brona Kelly, mothers of a seven-month-old boy.
Removing Kelly from her birth certificate would amount to considering her “as an aunt, a friend, when we wanted our son together,” Alice Bruni told AFP. “She was in the delivery room with me, she cut the umbilical cord. »
This 40-year-old woman regrets unfair legal conditions, with only 15 minutes in court for her defense and errors in official documents.
” Category B ”
Same-sex parents also fear losing their parental rights in the event of the death of their partner or a breakup.
Attorney Michele Giarratano, who represents 15 children in Padua’s case, notes that children deprived of a parent “also lose that parent’s entire family branch,” as well as inheritance rights.
Judges in Padua are expected to rule in January and could send the case to Italy’s Constitutional Court, where a ruling would have nationwide implications.
Until then, Mayor Sergio Giordani, who has registered same-sex mothers since 2017, has indicated that he will continue to do so.
“How can we say that this one is a category A child and this one a category B child? This one has rights, and this one doesn’t? “, he told AFP.
Some mothers guarantee their rights by adopting their child, but the process is long, expensive and complex.