Italy have made steps towards legalising same-sex unions after making a number of amendments to previously proposed bills.
The bill was stalled in Italy’s upper house for many weeks due to a raging debate over a provision which would allow one partner to adopt the child of the other. Lawmakers have removed the adoption clause, which has allowed the bill to pass by a landslide.
The new bill is expected to make it through the upper house unhindered, which will see same-sex unions become a reality in Italy. Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has lauded the passing as “historic”.
LGBT activists in Italy are disappointed by the whittled down version of the bill, reportedly calling it a betrayal. Prime Minister Renzi’s support for allowing the adoption clause was the primary reason the bill took so long to pass through the senate, and his capitulation has disappointed many LGBTIQ Italians.
LGBT rights group Arcigay’s president Flavio Romani told Reuters that the bill does not consider children who need definitive laws and protections.
“The law that has come out of all this is lacking its heart,” Romani says.
Prime Minister Renzi chose to back down on the adoption amendment after Italy’s highest court ruled against recognising a same-sex partnership as joint parents of a child adopted from the United States.
OIP Staff
Sources
