Rome

Italy has started removing the names of non-biological lesbian mothers from their children’s birth certificates under a new law against same-sex parenting that was recently passed by the right-wing government of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.

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CNN on Friday (July 22) reported that 33 children’s birth certificates in northern Padua city had the names of their non-birth mothers removed.

These children were conceived through artificial insemination abroad and then their mothers registered them under the city’s centre-left government, led by Sergio Giordani, in 2017.

Giordani rose to power after promising to remove the traditional “mother” and “father” designations on birth certificates. However, Meloni’s government ordered local authorities to stop registering children of same-sex parents with both of their names, reports CNN.

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Same-sex parents being targeted

Local reports mentioned that the state prosecutor has sent letters to other families in Milan, Florence and Fiumicino, near Rome, warning them of similar action.

The move comes as Italy has banned surrogacy, while gay marriage has not been legalised yet. Since same-sex relationships are illegal, the non-biological parent has to make a special case for legally adopting their child.

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The measure also prevents men in a same-sex relationship from registering both fathers’ names in the child’s birth certificate. Instead, they have to choose one to be the legal father.

The new law only recognises biological mother’s parenting rights. And in the event of her death, her children are to be handed over to relatives or admitted at the state’s care centre.

Pushback

The move has evoked a strong response from a local LGBT campaign group, Rainbow Family Association, which has launched an official protest.

“These birth certificates have not broken any law since they were signed in a legislative vacuum, which now leaves our children in limbo,” the group said in a statement when the first certificates were annulled in June.

“We ask that our children are nothing but citizens, fully protected, and that our families are not destroyed by the political will of the government to impose a single family model.”

Meloni, who is Italy’s first prime minister, catapulted to the premiership through rhetorics against LGBT and same-sex parenting.

In a recent speech, she said, “We want a nation in which – whatever each person’s legitimate choices and free inclinations may be – it is no longer a scandal to say we are all born from a man and a woman.”

(With inputs from agencies)

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