Italy’s right-wing government is removing lesbian mothers’ names from their children’s birth certificates as part of a crackdown on same-sex parenting and surrogacy.
In the northern city of Padua, 27 mothers have been removed from their children’s birth certificates, CNN reported Friday. And in Bergamo, at least one mom was removed from her child’s birth certificate, the Daily Mail reported.
The draconian new measure allows only a child’s biological parent to be listed on their birth certificate. The measure will also block men in same-sex relationships from registering the birth of their child with both dads’ names, according to CNN.
The extremist new law was put into place by Premier Giorgia Meloni, the country’s first female prime minister. She has routinely attacked what she has called the “the LGBT lobby, and has said she wants to ensure that “all babies are born from a man and a woman,” according to CNN.
Meloni’s party, the Brothers of Italy, has roots in the country’s neo-fascist movement.
“The ban is one of the most concrete manifestations of the fury that the right-wing majority is unleashing against LGBTI people,” Gabriele Piazzoni, secretary general of Arcigay, Italy’s largest LGBTQ+ rights group, told Reuters.
Michela, a 38-year-old lesbian mom who spoke to the Daily Mail, said she “cried for ten days when I opened the letter” revealing her name had been removed from her child’s birth certificate.
“I suspect the government is afraid that a family that looks different, like ours, can be as happy – maybe even happier sometimes – as a traditional family,” Michela told the publication. “On paper, they say Giulia has one mother but we know she has two. We will do everything possible to prove we are a good family.”