Talk:Recognition of same-sex unions in Italy

this article need corrections
This article need corrections: there is no Civil union law in Italy, which is not a Federal state, therefopre different areas may not have different laws about marriage, as shown in this map.

I'll try to do a translation from the italian article. but i don't know a lot of english (i speak french and italian, I live in italy -_- ) Ludovitalia 11:51, 28 August 2006 (UTC)

Vatican, Prodi Headed for Showdown on Gay-Marriage Proposal

By Flavia Krause-Jackson

Feb. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi and Pope Benedict XVI are headed for a showdown over gay marriage.

Prodi's cabinet plans to debate tomorrow a draft bill giving legal recognition to long-standing, unmarried couples, including homosexuals. The pope, who can wield considerable political power, has made it clear he strongly opposes the move.

The last time church-state relations were this strained was more than 30 years ago, when the Vatican, a city-state in the center of Rome, lost back-to-back battles against divorce and abortion, both of which voters approved in popular referendums.

``The church is fighting a losing battle to stop some form of recognition for gay couples, but where it will succeed is in watering down the legislation by dividing (Prodi's) coalition and mobilizing Catholics,'' said Antonio Noto, director of IPR Marketing, a polling firm, in an interview.

The co-authors of the bill represent both factions of the coalition: Family Minister Rosy Bindi of the pro-Catholic Daisy party and Equal Opportunities Minister Barbara Pollastrini, part of the former communist Democrats of the Left.

The draft permits couples who have lived together for at least five years, regardless of their sexuality, to register their union and tap into some health and house-leasing benefits. Pensions will probably be excluded.

Recognizing `Reality'

In an attempt to appease Benedict, Bindi says the bill merely acknowledges ``a reality'' and won't give same-sex unions the same rights as traditional marriages.

Italy is one of four countries in the 13-nation European Union that lack a legal framework for cohabiting, same-sex couples. Ireland, Greece and Austria are the others.

While the Italian bill is moderate compared with legislation elsewhere in Europe, it's too much for the Vatican, still sore from a setback in Spain. In 2005, the Socialist government headed by Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero put gay marriages on par with heterosexual ones in a country that is also predominantly Catholic.

The pope stepped into the new debate shortly before Christmas. ``I can't hide my concern about legislation on de facto couples,'' he said in a speech to the Roman clergy.

Since then he's gone further. On Jan 11, Benedict told a group of lawmakers, including Rome Mayor Walter Veltroni, that plans to recognize unions other than traditional marriage ``appear dangerous and counterproductive.''

Vatican's Influence

The 79-year-old Benedict, who called love between people of the same sex ``weak,'' has demonstrated significant political influence. Fewer than 20 percent of Italy's population participated in a 2005 referendum on fertility treatment after Benedict endorsed a call to abstain from voting. This effectively killed the measure because at least half of eligible voters must cast ballots for a referendum to be valid.

The Vatican can also count on the backing of influential politicians from the left and the right. In Prodi's own coalition, Justice Minister Clemente Mastella has already said he'll flout Prodi's orders and vote against the bill. His stance is backed by all four parties in the opposition.

``Let the government fall, but I will not vote for this law,'' Mastella said on Jan. 28, who abstained from a government motion yesterday on the issue.

His party has 10 members of parliament in the Chamber of Deputies and three senators. Prodi's coalition has a 40-seat majority in the lower house and only a one-seat majority in the Senate, so every vote Prodi can get is important.

Parliament Vote

'''Italy's lower house of parliament last night backed the civil-union bill in a procedural vote by 301 votes to 266. In the Senate, the government only has a one-seat advantage.'''

Pressure to introduce a gay-rights measure comes from an alliance that includes the Radicals, who back same-sex marriage, and Communists, one of whose members is the first transsexual in Italy's parliament. They are also unsatisfied with the bill, saying it doesn't go far enough, and voted against last's night motion in parliament.

``We want a law that is fairer and more complete,'' said Franco Grillini, a gay activist and member of the Democrats of the Left, the biggest party in the ruling coalition, during a Jan. 25 demonstration outside the Chamber of Deputies.

Two-thirds of Italians favor legalization of de facto couples, regardless of sexual orientation, Rome-based research institute Eurispes said in its 2007 annual report released Jan. 26. Among practicing Catholics, 45 percent are against, a separate poll by SWG Srl showed.

``We live in a secular society where everyone should be able to give an input, and the Church is no different in this respect when it comes to matters that affect the human person,'' Dario Antiseri, a professor of social sciences at Rome's Luiss University, said in an interview. ``The Vatican's interest is in defending the traditional family and that it will do.''

To contact the reporter on this story: Flavia Krause-Jackson in Rome at fjackson@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: February 1, 2007 05:12 EST

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601085&sid=apCLTMjLLULU&refer=europe

Regional registries
I think only Sicily has a proper registry for civil unions. The other regions only passed symbolic resolutions calling for equality of same-sex couples. Can someone please provide official sources? Here (http://www.wikipink.org/index.php?title=Elenco_dei_comuni_che_hanno_approvato_il_registro_delle_unioni_civili) only Sicily is listed. Finedelledanze (talk) 08:49, 24 April 2015 (UTC)

July 21, 2015: European Court of Human Rights
Hutzre (talk) 23:53, 21 July 2015 (UTC)
 * 21 - The European Court of Human Rights ruled that Italy is violating human rights, because there is no Civil union or same-sex marriage in country. Because of the ruling, also other homosexual couples in those european countries can accuse their government, where no civil unions or same-sex marriages are in law.
 * Advocate: European Court Rules Italy's Same-Sex Marriage and Civil Union Ban a Human Rights Violation
 * I feel the need to clarify: ECtHR judgment includes several particular features of the Italian situation in its reasoning (public opinion and Constitutional Court case-law), so it doesn't mean the result would necessarily be the same in cases against other states. The article you refer to does not say otherwise. See also the review by Dr. Johnson from the University of York: The point about the failure of the Italian legislator to heed the conclusions of the domestic courts, as well as the point made about social attitudes about homosexuality, are very important and mean that the 'positive obligation' established by the judgment cannot simply be applied to other states, such as the Russian Federation Satiksme (talk) 12:54, 23 July 2015 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just added archive links to 1 one external link on Recognition of same-sex unions in Italy. Please take a moment to review my edit. If necessary, add after the link to keep me from modifying it. Alternatively, you can add to keep me off the page altogether. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/20081022023126/http://www.ansa.it:80/opencms/export/site/notizie/rubriche/approfondimenti/visualizza_new.html_763238007.html to http://www.ansa.it/opencms/export/site/notizie/rubriche/approfondimenti/visualizza_new.html_763238007.html

When you have finished reviewing my changes, please set the checked parameter below to true to let others know.

Cheers.—cyberbot II  Talk to my owner :Online 17:11, 10 January 2016 (UTC)

Differences between civil unions and marriage
The civil union bill recently approved by the Senate does provide ALL the rights of marriage except parenting rights (stepchild and joint adoption). You can find more information here (http://www.articolo29.it/2016/cosa-ce-nella-legge-sulle-unioni-civili-una-prima-guida/), see point 3. However, there are some differences with marriage, notably a faster divorce procedure, the lack of two obligations married couples have in Italy: reciprocal fidelity and consummation of marriage. Being obligations, these cannot be defined a right: rather they are duties that the civil partners would have towards each other. Nevertheless these obligations don't exist in many definitions of marriage outside of Italy. Therefore, the Italian civil union bill (being on a par with the German and Austrian partnership laws in terms of similarity to marriage) can be described without any doubt as providing 'all the rights of marriage' except parenting rights. It goes much further than its counterparts in Slovenia, Czech Republic, Greece and Estonia, where many of the fiscal provisions accorded to opposite-sex couples are denied to same-sex couples in civil unions/cohabitation agreements.

Finedelledanze (talk) 12:25, 27 February 2016 (UTC)

Detailed voting results
Maybe someone who knows how to do it could put this info in a nice table? Like on some other similar pages.

Source for Chamber of Deputies vote: http://www.senato.it/leg/17/BGT/Schede/Ddliter/votazioni/575_1.htm — Preceding unsigned comment added by Extended Cut (talk • contribs) 15:14, 18 November 2018 (UTC)