Interview
Alessia Crocini: ‘The Constitutional Court has established the Meloni government is wrong’
An Italian court ruling gives children born through medically assisted reproduction access to Italian birth certificates. “It’s a success, not a milestone. … We will continue to fight for the rights of single fathers and mothers.”
“The struggle continues,” says Alessia Crocini, screenwriter, mother of a son and president of Famiglie Arcobaleno, the NGO that has represented LGBTQ+ parents in Italy since 2005.
She has just returned from Brussels, where, together with Roberta Parigiani, vice president of Transsexual Identity Movement (MIT), she participated in a closed-door European Parliament hearing on the rule of law in Italy to denounce “the slow but constant offensive that the current government is carrying out against the rights of same-gender families and trans people.”
The ruling of the Constitutional Court, on an issue raised by the Court of Lucca, clearly establishes that not legitimizing from birth the status of a child born through medically assisted reproduction (MAR) as the child of both parents infringes on that child's right to personal identity. What do you think about this decision?
It is a fundamental step forward: at the exact moment when you start a MAR process you assume parental responsibility. Just as it happens for straight couples: when you sign the informed consent form in a clinic abroad, it’s not the case that any of the parents – for instance, the man – can still disown the child at birth. We were asking to be treated equally, and the Constitutional Court agreed with us.
What will happen now, in concrete terms, for same-sex couples who become parents?
Everything has changed: a child, regardless of whether it was conceived abroad or in Italy, can be recognized by both the biological mother and the intended mother, as long as both women have signed the MAR documents and thus have shown that they have a plan for shared parenting. There’s no doubt that this is a positive ruling for us: from now on, the parental role of both mothers will be recognized.
This is a milestone for same-sex couples.
It’s a success, but still not a milestone. The Constitutional Court's ruling applies only to female-female couples. A part of the wall has been knocked down, certainly. But the Varchi Law is still standing [editor’s note: named after deputy Carolina Varchi of Fratelli d'Italia who proposed it], which makes surrogacy a punishable offense in Italy even if the practice is carried out abroad. Now we are waiting for it to be declared unconstitutional or to be repealed with a change of majority, so that foreign birth certificates with two dads can also be registered in Italy.
The Interior Minister, Matteo Piantedosi, seems to have put same-sex couples in his crosshairs. In just a few months, he has issued two memos urging mayors to stop recording such birth certificates and local prosecutors to challenge them. Some of them have actually been very diligent in sending notices to the local administrations. Can this ruling solve this issue?
From this point of view, it is an overwhelming victory. The Constitutional Court has established that Piantedosi and the Meloni government are wrong, and agreed with the mayors who had assumed responsibility for the same view, such as Beppe Sala in Milan, Dario Nardella in Florence, Chiara Appendino when she was mayor Turin, and Sergio Giordani who leads Padua. Right now, there are 40 suspended birth certificates in Padua. I can only imagine how relieved those mothers must be.
The center-right reacted by peddling notions from the Pro Vita pro-life NGO, claiming that this is a “theft of the father figure.” Family Minister Eugenia Roccella commented: “Erasing the father is not progress.”
Some of these comments are quite funny too: it’s clear that they can’t come up with a point that would stick. To Minister Roccella I would like to say: regardless of the ruling of the Constitutional Court, these children would have still grown up with two mothers: there was no “erasure” of the father, only the recognition of the reality of their family. Furthermore, in these cases there are no fathers but only donors. Would the minister say the same about heterosexual couples who resort to assisted reproduction? Would she call the donor the “father,” taking away the intended father's parental role? I don't think so.
What is still needed at this point?
We will continue to fight for the rights of single fathers and mothers. Law 40 regulating IVF and the Varchi Law must be repealed. But we cannot expect that it will always be the judges who grant rights in this country. The Court has taken responsibility to defend the interests of children and has been consistent. Such consistency is absent in the realm of politics. Parliament, which is now a rubber stamp, should be the one to legislate on these issues. However, we have cowardly parties both on the right and on the left, which can’t manage to get any rights enshrined. We’ll wait for new elections, but we need less cowardice, including on the left.
Originally published at https://ilmanifesto.it/ottima-notizia-ma-per-i-diritti-serve-la-politica-non-i-giudici on 2025-05-23