Could Italy finally recognize same-sex unions?

Hundreds of thousands descended on Rome Saturday to protest against a bill that would grant the legal rights of marriage to same-sex couples. Currently Italy is the only country in western Europe that hasn't legalized gay marriage. 

|
Andrew Medichini/Associated Press
Friars hold banners reading ' No to civil Unions' in Rome, Saturday, Jan. 30, 2016. Thousands of people were gathering in Rome’s Circus Maximus for a pro-family protest that opposes proposed legislation permitting civil unions for same-sex couples and legal recognition for their families.

Behind signs that read "We defend our children,” hundreds of thousands of Italians congregated in Rome Saturday to protest a bill that would legalize same-sex unions.

Italy is currently the only country in western Europe that has yet to recognize gay marriage or civil unions, largely due to the pervasive influence of the Catholic Church. But next week, lawmakers in the Italian senate will vote on a law that will extend all the legal rights under marriage to same-sex couples in civil unions, as well as to unmarried heterosexual couples.

“We have a lot of grandchildren; their future is ruined if marriage is destroyed,” a protester named Ida told The Guardian. “Children have a right to have a mother and a father. To grow up healthy, they need a male and a female figure.”

In addition to civil partnership, the proposed law will give the same-sex couples the right to inherit partners’ pensions and adopt their children – perhaps the most controversial aspect of the bill. Those participating in Saturday’s rally, dubbed “Family Day,” have also expressed concern that civil unions will open the door to full-fledged gay marriage, which the bill comes short of accepting.

"There can be no confusion between the family willed by God and any other type of union," Pope Francis said last week, despite his past expressions of empathy towards gay people.

The demonstrators Saturday crowded into Rome's Circus Maximus, a chariot-racing venue from 2,000 years ago. Sources say up to 2 million people attended the event.

“In Italy the constitutional court said marriage is only between a man and a woman,” Gianfranco Amato, one of Family Day’s organizers said. “This law is a scam, because it requires changing the constitution."

Many other Catholic-majority countries around the world, such as Ireland and Spain, have passed marriage equality legislation in recent years. Even in Argentina, where the pope served as archbishop of Buenos Aires, same-sex marriage was legalized nearly six years ago.

This isn’t Italy’s first attempt in passing the law. In 2007, politicians ultimately rejected a same-sex marriage bill under the pressure of the Catholic church. But the religious influence surrounding the country is weaker now, experts say.

Last weekend, proponents of bill had rallies of their own in more than 100 cities. While the bill was debated on Thursday, a group of people showed their support outside the senate building by chanting “Wake up, Italy!” and holding images of alarm clocks.

"Last year, the European Court of Human Rights has condemned Italy for failing to protect the rights of same sex couples," Gabriele Piazzoni, the leader of Italy's LGBT organization, ARCIGAY, told NBC news.

"If a gay couple gets married abroad, comes to Italy, and their rights are not recognized, they can get sue the government for 5,000 euros,” he added. “And the state has to give it to them, because Europe recognized it's a violation of their rights. This is one of the reasons the government is proposing this law, because they are being pressured to do it by the European Union."

The bill is widely anticipated to pass in early February, despite the outcry against it.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to Could Italy finally recognize same-sex unions?
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Global-News/2016/0131/Could-Italy-finally-recognize-same-sex-unions
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe