The European Parliament has criticized Italy's conservative government for ordering a council to stop registering the children of same-sex couples, marking its first move to restrict LGBTQ+ rights since taking office. Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) expressed concerns that the move against the Milan city council, which had been transcribing children born overseas to same-sex couples through surrogacy or IVF into its civil register until recently, was "part of a larger attack on the LGBTQI+ community in Italy." Giuseppe Sala, Milan's mayor, traveled to Brussels this week to gather support and is seeking to form an opposition alliance to advocate for the rights of same-sex parent families.
In an amendment to a 2022 report proposed by Renew Europe, a liberal and centrist group, the MEPs called on Italy to "immediately revoke its decision," arguing that the move "will inevitably result in discrimination against not just same-sex couples, but also primarily their children" and that it was "a direct breach of children's rights" under a UN convention.
The government of Giorgia Meloni, whose far-right Brothers of Italy party vowed to defend the traditional family, has proposed a bill that would make it a crime for couples to go abroad to have children through surrogacy. While IVF is only available to heterosexual couples, surrogacy is already illegal in Italy.
After the interior ministry said it was up to the courts to decide on such a decision, Milan had to stop registering the children of gay parents. In protests earlier this month, thousands of people took to the streets, and other mayors are rebelling against the move. Antonio Decaro, the mayor of Bari, told Rai TV on Friday, "I have always carried out these transcriptions because I am not interested in where the child is born or how. If they live in my city, I am interested in how that child lives, and they must have the same rights as other children."
Italy's LGBTQ+ community was concerned that the Meloni-led government would erode the rights it had achieved thus far. During election rallies, Meloni, a self-described "Christian mother," frequently repeated her belief that only heterosexual parents should raise children. She has also spoken out against "gender ideology" and "LGBT lobbies." Federico Mollicone, a Brothers of Italy deputy, urged the state broadcaster Rai not to air an episode of the global children's cartoon series Peppa Pig in the run-up to last September's general election because it included a same-sex couple in its cast of characters.