Behind an apparently bureaucratic circular hides the tug of war over civil rights - and the first move of the Meloni government on the issue appears as an unequivocal stance: war on the so-called "Rainbow Families".
The Municipality of Milan will stop the transcription of foreign birth certificates of children born to same-sex couples in Italy. The suspension of registrations is due to a circular from the Prefect of Milan, who in turn consulted the Ministry of the Interior. The prefecture, to request the interruption of transcriptions, referred to law 40 of 2004, the one on medically assisted procreation, allowed only to couples formed by persons of different sexes. A law that also prohibits surrogacy. Faced with this circular, Mayor Sala could not do anything but suspend the registrations: the decision will be made official today. The mayor of Milan himself met yesterday with the "Rainbow Families", announcing that this will become his political battle with the government.
The decision concerns tens of thousands of families in Italy, hundreds in the Lombard capital: the children of two fathers who have resorted abroad (where it is allowed) to gestation for others (also called surrogate motherhood) and two mothers who have entrusted themselves to medically assisted procreation (i.e. heterologous fertilization, that for homosexual copies can only be made abroad) and who have given birth in Italy. The stop does not concern the children of two mothers born abroad.
Interior Minister Matteo Piantedoses' first measure on civil rights leaves many children in a situation of inequality with respect to the children of heterosexuals, the families announce. The president of Famiglie Arcobaleno Alessia Crocini is clear: "We learned the news with deep discouragement, aware of how much this Government is working to remove any minimum right of citizenship to same-sex families in Italy. This news is sadly paired with the decision of the Italian Government to reject the possibility of a European Certificate of Filiation, the one that would allow the children of same-sex couples to recognize their rights throughout Europe. Boys and girls with two mothers and two fathers already exist in Italy, ministers Piantedosi and Prime Minister Meloni make a reason for it
. Every day they go to school, enter pediatric offices, play in parks and sports fields, attend music classes, like all their peers, without having the rights of all their peers. This situation is not worthy of a civilized country."
The satisfaction shines instead from the note released by the municipal councilor of Fratelli d'Italia Matteo Forte: "It is not that we discover today the illegitimacy of that act claimed by the stage of Milano Pride".
Critic Alessandro Zan, deputy of the Democratic Party: "These are unspeakable pressures that confirm the hostility of the Meloni government against the rights of the LGBTQIA+ community. The European Union also calls on Italy to take steps towards full equality for all citizens and the government responds with actions worthy of Orban's Hungary."