Italy Strips Names of Lesbian Mothers from Children's Birth Certificates

The Italian government has begun erasing the names of same-sex, non-biological parents from their child's birth certificate. While this move is being supported by a faction of the country, its impacts on gay parents have been a cause of worry for others.

In January, the Italian government sent a letter, instructing all prefects in Italy to stop including the names of both parents in the birth certificates of children of same-sex couples. According to the letter, one parent would be included in the certificate, while the other would have to initiate adoption processes.

Michela Leidi welcomed her daughter, Giulia, last summer. However, local authorities were instructed this month to remove Ms Leidi's name from Giulia's birth certificate because it was "contrary to public order."

The verdict, which recognised only the baby's biological mother as her legal parent, made headlines in Italy.

"I cried all my tears," Ms Leidi, a 38-year-old education worker from Bergamo in northern Italy, said. “I never missed a scan, from the moment she was conceived to the moment she was born. Yet it’s as though I don’t exist," she said. Nonetheless, she is now making efforts to adopt Giulia.

Parental recognition for same-sex couples is not addressed under Italian law. The responsibility for listing parents on birth certificates has often fallen on local governments. In 2016, Italy legalized gay civil partnerships, opening the door for many same-sex parents to be acknowledged.

Now, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's government is advocating removing non-biological gay parents from birth certificates retrospectively. Gay rights advocates worry that hundreds of families could be impacted.

Ms Meloni, who has regularly spoken out against "the LGBTQ lobby" and in defence of Christian family values, is leading the campaign against same-sex parenthood, which includes a crackdown on birth certificates.

Ms Meloni is from the far right, but she has worked hard to position herself as a moderate conservative by advocating for policies that are acceptable to the political elite.

Her administration has taken tough stands on issues like homosexual rights, national identity, and immigration. Her fellow party members have recently complained about the increasing frequency with which Italians use English terms and have proposed monetary penalties for this "Anglomania."

Ms Meloni's party, the Brothers of Italy, has a long history of opposing same-sex marriage and parenting. “All children have a mother and a father. Saying they have two mothers or two fathers is not telling the truth," Eugenia Roccella, Italy’s minister of family affairs, said recently.

Lawmaker, Federico Mollicone, of a big party called the use of surrogate mothers a criminal "more serious than paedophilia," triggering a debate.

Italy has a stricter ban on surrogacy than other European countries. The Italian government in Rome is currently working on a bill that would criminalise international surrogacy, a move that would disproportionately impact gay males. The majority of legal experts agree that this clause cannot be enforced.

Rainbow Families campaigner Alessia Crocini said, "All it took was a change in government." A "witch hunt atmosphere" has developed over the past few months, according to one commentator.

Italy is going against the grain of the rest of the Western world, which is generally trending towards more legal protections for same-sex couples. In Italy, same-sex couples are not allowed to wed. Infertility treatment is off-limits to lesbians. In very limited situations, gay couples may adopt.

The Italian bill that legalised civil unions in 2016 was strongly opposed by the country's religious authorities. In 2021, the Vatican opposed a bill in the Italian Parliament that would have made it illegal to harass, assault, or otherwise discriminate against LGBT persons because it would have violated the Church's right to free practice of religion. The vote on the bill failed.

The general Italian public has been more accepting of LGBT rights over the previous decade. 63% of Italians, 73% of Americans, and 39% of people in Poland, one of Europe's most socially conservative countries, have a positive view of same-sex parenthood, according to a global study conducted by Ipsos last year.

However, Ms Meloni's core supporters place a premium on traditional family values. A recent study by Ipsos found that while 32% of Italians as a whole are opposed to gay couples adopting children, over 58% of those who vote for the Brothers of Italy party share this view.

Because it would require Italy to recognise the status of same-sex parents, Rome is opposed to a European Union plan for a certificate of parenthood valid throughout the union.

In December, Italy's top court ruled that authorities could not accept foreign birth certificates for children born via surrogacy.

Milan, Italy's business and fashion centre, was ordered by the government last month to stop certifying non-biological gay parents.

The Italian Interior Ministry notified the mayor and chief prosecutor of Milan that "only parents that have a biological relationship with the child can be mentioned in birth certificates made in Italy." Existing birth certificates were requested to "be rectified" per the letter's request.

The European Parliament, the EU's legislature, has urged Italy to reverse its birth certificate policy, calling it "part of a broader attack against the LGBTQI+ community in Italy."

Rome claims it is only carrying out the letter of the law. However, many legal experts claim that Italian law is unclear.

Many mayors across the country have caved to public pressure and stopped recording the sexual orientation of non-biological parents on birth certificates. However, some mayors continue regardless of the lack of specific legislation. Sergio Giordani, mayor of Padua in Italy's northwestern Veneto region, is one of them.

"There is no clear law when it comes to two mothers," said Mr Giordani, who claimed no political allegiance. “I’m following my conscience. I’m doing what I think is right. I’m doing this for the children."

To remove the identities of the non-biological parents, the local district attorney has begun evaluating the 34 birth certificates given by  MrGiordani to infants with two moms since 2017.