Gay Marriage and Italy

by Michael Jones · 2010-03-15 07:42:00 UTC
Topics:

Italy LGBTHere's an international court case quietly bubbling underneath the surface. Next Tuesday, the Italian Constitutional Court will decide whether several provisions under Italy's civil code that currently restrict marriage to just "one man, one woman" are unconstitutional. Their ruling could be a major step toward marriage equality in Bel Paese -- a nickname for Italy that literally means "Beautiful Country." Nothing could make it more beautiful than marriage equality, right?

The lawsuit, and a subsequent campaign known as Affermazione Civile ("Civil Affirmation" in English ... but really, it sounds so much more beautiful in Italian), has been pushed by two Italian gay rights organizations, Certi Diritti and Rete Lenford.  These two groups believe that denying same-sex couples the right to get married violates principles of equality set forth under Italy's constitution.

"Gay people have the same mix of reasons as non-gay people for wanting the freedom to marry, and the law should not discriminate against committed couples or deny them civil marriage licenses with the same responsibilities, same rules, and same respect," they write.

That's the question before the Italian Constitutional Court, and a question they'll answer in eight days as they get ready to pass judgment on gay marriage.

Last week, the Mayor of Turin, Sergio Chiamparino, lent his voice to same-sex marriage rights, letting folks know that in his mind, Italy needs to do some serious catching up when it comes to equal rights as compared to the rest of Europe. Chiamparino even attended a (not legally recognized!) same-sex union ceremony for some friends.

"These are two people who love each other and only wish to have their commitment recognised, but in Italy this is cannot be done in full or in the face of the public," Chiamparino said.

That could all start to change, depending on how Italy's Constitutional Court rules next week. Stay tuned.

Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

Michael Jones is a Change.org Editor. He has worked in the field of human rights communications for a decade, most recently for Harvard Law School.
PREVIOUS STORY:
A Catholic Voice for LGBT Parents
NEXT STORY:
On Aeroflot's Birthday, Russian Activists Condemn Company's Anti-Gay Record. And You Can Help.

COMMENTS (6)

    Comment Policy

    · All fields are required to comment.

    [X]

    Comments on Change.org are meant for further exploration and evaluation of the campaign on Change.org. To that end, we welcome constructive comments. However, we reserve the right to delete comments which, as determined solely in our discretion: (1) are offensive, abusive, or off-topic; (2) include content solely intended to personally attack the campaign creator, (3) are designed to subvert or hijack comment threads rather than contribute to them; and/or (4) violate our terms of service and/or privacy policy. Repeat offenders may be permanently removed from the site at our discretion. Please also be advised that: (A) we do not actively curate and/or monitor in any manner whatsoever the comments made on the Change.org platform, and (B) the creator of each campaign on Change.org may remove any comment at her/his/its discretion.