The court found that denying legal recognition to the nonbiological mother violates the constitutional principles of equality and personal identity and violates the child’s rights to care, education and emotional continuity from both parents.
Italy’s Constitutional Court said on Thursday that same-sex female couples who use in vitro fertilization (IVF) abroad can both be legally recognized as parents in Italy, even if one is not the biological mother.
The ruling is likely to be welcomed by Italian LGBTQ groups who have repeatedly clashed with the conservative government of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, a self-declared enemy of what she and her allies call the “LGBT lobby”.
The court found that denying legal recognition to the nonbiological mother violates the constitutional principles of equality and personal identity and violates the child’s rights to care, education and emotional continuity from both parents.
The decision strikes down part of a 2004 law which did not allow both women in a same-sex couple to be registered as legal mothers, even if both consented to the procedure.
Marilena Grassadonia, an LGBTQ rights activist from the Italian Left opposition party, said the ruling marked a “historic day” which “restores dignity and serenity to the many rainbow families who live in our country”.
The case was brought by a court in the Tuscan city of Lucca, which questioned the legality of denying “full dual parenthood” in a case involving a lesbian couple.