Lesbian moms in Italy just won an important right in a “historic” court victory

In a significant win for lesbian couples, Italy’s highest court decided this week that same-sex partners of women who conceive through in vitro fertilisation (IVF) have the right to be legally recognised as the parents of their children.

According to Reuters, the ruling announced on Thursday, May 22, by Italy’s Constitutional Court declared it unconstitutional to deny legal recognition to the nonbiological mother of children conceived via IVF abroad. The court stated that such denial infringes on the rights of children in lesbian couples to receive care, education, and emotional continuity from both parents, according to ‘LGBTQ Nation’.

Before this decision, a law from 2004 prevented the nonbiological mother in a same-sex relationship from being registered as a parent of the child. As the judges pointed out, this law led to varying interpretations across Italy, with some mayors allowing nonbiological mothers to appear as parents on birth certificates, while others listed only the birth mothers.

“These divergent outcomes reflect a shifting social reality to which the legislature has yet to respond,” the judges remarked, as cited by Reuters.

In 2023, under the leadership of far-right, anti-LGBTQ+ Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, the Italian Interior Ministry began targeting cities that allowed both partners in same-sex couples to be registered as “parents” rather than “mother” and “father” on birth records.

Thursday’s ruling, which annuls part of the 2004 law, was praised as “historic” by LGBTQ+ activists. Marilena Grassadonia, an advocate from the Italian Left opposition party, expressed to Reuters that the decision “restores dignity and serenity to the many rainbow families who reside in our country.”

Nevertheless, the ruling did not extend the right to IVF treatment to single women or women in same-sex relationships. Under Italian law, only married heterosexual couples are permitted to access medically assisted reproduction treatments such as IVF. The court’s ruling is limited to women who pursue IVF treatment outside the country.

Although same-sex civil unions have been legal in Italy since 2016, same-sex couples are not allowed to adopt, partly due to opposition from the Catholic Church. Surrogacy is also illegal, and existing restrictions hinder nonbiological parents from adopting “stepchildren,” creating significant obstacles for gay fathers seeking to adopt children born via surrogacy abroad.

Nonetheless, as reported by Agence France-Presse, a court in northern Italy also decided on Thursday in favor of a nonbiological father’s right to adopt his child conceived through surrogacy abroad.

Chiara Soldatini, a lesbian mother who relocated from Italy to Spain last year, celebrated the Constitutional Court’s ruling. “I am happy no one will now be able to challenge the fact our son is our son,” she stated to Agence France-Presse. However, she mentioned that she would “only uncork the champagne when all those families with two dads can toast with me.”

“Now is not the time to settle,” she added.