In hard-right Italy, gay parents fear losing rights to their children: ‘it’s a nightmare’
- Civil unions became legal in Italy in 2016, but the law on parental rights for same-sex couples is unclear
- There is no law governing the registration of children conceived abroad by mothers in same-sex relationships, who then give birth in Italy
The risk she could lose her children is driving Chiara and her family into self-imposed exile, away from Italy and a hard-right government hostile to same-sex parents.
The 46-year-old is fleeing to Spain after realising her legal rights as one of two mothers of three-year-old Arturo are no longer safe under Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
“It’s a nightmare,” she said, saying she and Christine, 42, are braced to leave friends, family and her job in Rome “because it’s the only escape route”.
Civil unions became legal in Italy in 2016, but the law on parental rights for same-sex couples is unclear.
Encouraged by several court rulings, local mayors have in recent years been registering both biological and non-biological parents on birth certificates.
But in January, Meloni’s interior minister ordered town halls to stop transcribing certificates of children born abroad through surrogacy, citing a recent court ruling.
In response, prosecutors across Italy began contesting birth certificates of children born to same-sex parents – whether through surrogacy or not.