Rome finally recognises same-sex couples
Italy recognises same-sex couples in law for the first time. Late, but not too late.
On 20 May 2016, Italian President Sergio Mattarella signed a law that gay men and lesbians in the country had been waiting for for decades. It introduced civil unions for same-sex couples. Italy was thus no longer the only country in Western Europe to ignore same-sex couples completely in law.
The road there was long. The first bills had been in parliament as early as the eighties, where they regularly fizzled out. Senator Monica Cirinnà introduced her bill in 2014, and the law still bears her name today. Additional pressure came from Strasbourg: in 2015, the European Court of Human Rights had ruled against Italy for denying couples any legal protection. In January 2016, hundreds of thousands took to the streets in many cities to demand a yes in the Senate.
The price of the majority was high. Stepchild adoption, the possibility of legally adopting a partner's child, was struck out. After the Senate, the Chamber of Deputies also approved, and in the end only the president's signature was missing. The law appeared in the official gazette a day later and has applied since 5 June 2016. It gives couples many of the rights of marriage, for example entitlement to a deceased partner's pension.
It was a victory nonetheless, but an incomplete one. Full marriage remained closed to same-sex couples, and the question of parenthood remained contested. Conservative forces even announced a referendum to overturn the law. Years later, Senator Cirinnà said Italy was moving backwards again. 20 May 2016 nevertheless remains the day on which Italy's laws first officially recognised same-sex love.