Italy's Constitutional Court has ruled that two women can be registered as parents of a child on a birth certificate, noting that parental rights cannot be granted solely to the biological mother in same-sex couples, the Associated Press reported, BTA reported.
The court ruled that it was unconstitutional for city registry officials to prevent a child born to a same-sex couple from being recognized by both its biological mother and the woman who consented to medically assisted conception and assumed parental responsibilities.
LGBTQ+ advocates welcomed the decision, saying it was a "historic day for civil rights in Italy".
"Finally, what we have been saying all along has been recognized: boys and girls have the right from their birth to be recognized as having two parents, even when it comes to two mothers", the non-governmental organization "Rainbow Families" said in a statement. The movement also said the court decision should remind politicians that, constitutionally, "it is no longer possible to pretend" that LGBTI+ people do not exist.
The "For Life and Family" association rejected the decision as illogical and added that it represented an "existential joke" on thousands of children born into same-sex families.
In recent years, officials in some city registries have started to enter only the name of the biological mother on birth certificates, but not that of her partner. To obtain legal rights to the child, the non-biological mother had to resort to adoption.
A 2004 law provided for similar partial recognition of parental rights. However, the restrictions were reintroduced under 2023 Interior Ministry guidelines, which are part of the policy of the far-right government of Giorgia Meloni to combat surrogacy and promote traditional family values.
The Constitutional Court's ruling does not affect the legality of medically assisted conception. Italy has strict restrictions on in vitro fertilization, and a ban on surrogacy has been in place since 2004. Last year, Italy banned its citizens from resorting to surrogacy abroad.