Protest Erupts In Italy As Meloni-Led Govt Limits Rights Of Gay Parents

Italy legalised same-sex civil unions in 2016, but due to opposition from the Catholic Church, it refrained from granting homosexual couples the right to adopt, according to AFP.

Protests erupt in Italy as Giorgia Meloni-led government restricts same-sex parent rights. ( Image Source :Getty )

New Delhi: Massive protests broke out in Milan on Saturday as hundreds of people took to the streets in protest against moves by Italy's new right-wing government to restrict the rights of same-sex parents, news agency AFP reported.

"You explain to my son that I'm not his mother," read one sign, as demonstrators waved rainbow flags across the city to express their anger over the decision.

According to AFP, Italy legalised same-sex civil unions in 2016, but due to opposition from the Catholic Church, it refrained from granting homosexual couples the right to adopt.

Decisions have instead been made on a case-by-case basis by the courts, as parents take legal action, although some local authorities decided to act unilaterally.

Moreover, Milan had been registering children of same-sex couples conceived overseas through surrogacy, which is forbidden in Italy, or medically assisted reproduction, which is only available for heterosexual couples, AFP reported.

But its centre-left mayor Beppe Sala revealed this week that this had stopped after the interior ministry sent a letter insisting that the courts must decide.

"It is an obvious step backwards from a political and social point of view, and I put myself in the shoes of those parents who thought they could count on this possibility in Milan," he said in a podcast, according to AFP.

Elly Schlein, the newly elected leader of the centre-left Democratic Party, was among opposition politicians who attended the protest Saturday, where many campaigners railed against the newly elected federal administration.

"Yes to natural families, no to the LGBT lobby!" Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, whose far-right Brothers of Italy party came top in September elections, said in a speech last year before her election at the head of a right-wing coalition that includes Matteo Salvini's anti-immigration League.

Earlier this week, a Senate committee voted against an EU proposal to require member states to recognise the rights of same-sex parents granted elsewhere in the EU.