Recognition of same-sex unions in Italy

Recognized Italy has recognised civil unions since 5 June 2016, providing same-sex couples with most of the legal protections, benefits and rights of marriage.

[6] In 1986, the Inter-Parliamentary Women's Communist group (Interparlamentare donne Comuniste) and Arcigay, Italy's largest LGBT rights organization, raised the issue of civil unions in the Italian Parliament for the first time.

This was led by Ersilia Salvato in the Italian Senate and by Romano Bianchi and Angela Maria Bottari in the lower house who together attempted to introduce draft legislation.

In 1988, following lobbying by Arcigay, lawyer and Socialist parliamentarian Alma Cappiello Agate introduced the first such bill to Parliament, calling for the acknowledgement of cohabitation between "persons".

During the XIII Legislature from 1996 to 2001, at least ten bills were presented to Parliament, notably by Salvato, Nichi Vendola, Luigi Manconi, Graziano Cioni, and Luciana Sbarbati; however, none of them made it to a discussion on the floor of the Chamber of Deputies or the Senate.

[9] During the 2006 electoral campaign, Romano Prodi, leader of The Union, promised to introduce legislation recognising cohabiting same-sex couples if elected.

In February 2007, the government introduced a draft bill to recognise domestic partnerships under the name Diritti e doveri delle persone stabilmente Conviventi (DiCo; "Rights and duties of stable cohabitants").

Two Italian filmmakers, Gustav Hofer and Luca Ragazzi, directed the award-winning documentary Suddenly, Last Winter (Improvvisamente l'inverno scorso) on the DiCo bill.

Although the governing majority, The People of Freedom and Lega Nord, of the new government under Silvio Berlusconi, was elected without promising any improvement for the rights of same-sex couples, some party members, including Minister for Innovation and Public Administration Renato Brunetta, along with Socialist MPs Lucio Barani and Francesco De Lucia, acted independently and submitted civil union legislation to the Parliament in September 2008.

[16] The proposed private member's bill, which was called Diritti e Doveri di Reciprocità dei conviventi (DiDoRe; "Mutual rights and duties for cohabiting partners"), was unsuccessful.

A spokesman for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Milan responded by arguing there was a "risk that giving equal status to families based on marriage with those founded on civil unions will legitimise polygamy".

[25] Due to the limited number of services managed at the local level in Italy, these registries mostly have a symbolic value and are not legally binding for third parties.

Major cities offering civil union registries include Rome, Milan, Bologna, Padua, Florence, Pisa, Bolzano, Palermo, Naples, Genoa, Bari, Catania, Brescia and Turin.

[27] Following the 2013 Italian general election, the Letta Government was formed by members from the Democratic Party, The People of Freedom (PdL) and Civic Choice (SC).

[29] The Minister of Equal Opportunities, Sport and Youth Policies, Josefa Idem (PD), later announced she would introduce a parliamentary bill to recognise same-sex unions.

Leading Italian politicians, including the mayors of Rome, Milan and Bologna, Ignazio Marino, Giuliano Pisapia and Virginio Merola, pressed for such legislation to be urgently passed.

[49] After having failed to garner support in Parliament from enough opposition MPs, the government asked for a confidence vote on an amended version of the bill which did not contain the contentious provisions on stepchild adoption.

Bills legalising same-sex marriage have been submitted to the Italian Parliament several times since Franco Grillini, an MP for the Democrats of the Left, first presented a proposal to the Chamber of Deputies in July 2002.

It has been a demand of the Italian LGBT movement since at least the early 2000s and the subject of several judicial cases involving recognition of same-sex marriages performed abroad.

[83] The legal system had already been used to stop some mayors from recognising same-sex unions, but many such cases were ultimately dismissed by the courts after failing to determine a particular offence.

[88][89][90] Activists complained that Carlo Deodato, the Council of State judge who drafted the sentence, defined himself as "Catholic, married and father of two" and had previously expressed his disapproval of same-sex marriage via Twitter and therefore could not be considered impartial.

The judges agreed with an earlier appellate court ruling on the case, which stated that Italian law would recognise married same-sex couples only as civil unions.

[97][98][99] During the 2018 general election, the only party openly campaigning for same-sex marriage and achieving parliamentary representation was Free and Equal, which won 14 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 4 in the Senate.

On 26 February 2023, Elly Schlein won the primary elections of the Democratic Party on a campaign platform advocating for same-sex marriage and full adoption rights.

In 2007, Archbishop of Genoa Angelo Bagnasco compared the idea of recognising same-sex unions directly with state recognition of incest and pedophilia.

[122][123] Zuppi is widely regarded as a "progressive" within the Church and in June 2022 he was accused of covering up the blessing of a same-sex couple after their civil union in Bologna.

According to Italian media, the blessing of Pietro Morotti and Giacomo Spagnoli reportedly took place in the presence of six priests at San Lorenzo in Budrio.

[129] According to a February 2007 poll by la Repubblica, 67% of Italian Catholics backed the draft civil union bill proposed at the time, but only 35% thought it should apply to same-sex couples.

[133] On the occasion of the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia on 17 May 2012, the National Bureau of Statistics (ISTAT) released an official governmental report on attitudes towards homosexuality among the Italian population.

[140] A Pew Research Center poll, conducted between April and August 2017 and published in May 2018, showed that 59% of Italians supported same-sex marriage, 38% were opposed and 3% did not know or had refused to answer.