ROME, Italy – Italy’s Constitutional Court has ruled that women in same-sex couples who have children through IVF are entitled to be recognised as mothers, even if they are not the biological parent — a landmark decision hailed as a victory for LGBTQ+ families and a rebuke to the country’s conservative government.
The court found it “discriminatory” to deny non-biological mothers a place on their children’s birth certificates, saying the practice violates constitutional protections and fails to uphold the best interests of the child.
The ruling, issued Thursday, is binding and effectively becomes law.
“This is a historic decision,” said Michele Giarratano, a lawyer involved in several related cases. “It corrects a glaring injustice and affirms what many courts and families have already understood: that parenting is about responsibility, not biology.”
The ruling is a blow to Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s hard-right government, which has made the defense of so-called “traditional families” a cornerstone of its political identity.
Meloni, who calls herself a “Christian mother,” has railed against what she terms “the LGBT lobby” and moved to curtail rights for same-sex parents since taking office in 2022.
In 2023, Meloni’s interior ministry ordered city halls to stop registering birth certificates that included two mothers, triggering widespread legal challenges and leaving dozens of families in limbo.
Prosecutors even sought to retroactively strip non-biological mothers of parental status, most notably in the city of Padua.
Giarratano represents 15 children affected by that crackdown. “This ruling should put an end to those cruel and unnecessary legal battles,” he said.
The court’s decision cited the child’s right to a stable relationship with both parents and with each parent’s family.
Legal experts say it closes a significant gap in Italian law, which allows same-sex civil unions but bans access to assisted reproduction for same-sex couples and does not explicitly address children born abroad through IVF or surrogacy.
Among those celebrating the verdict was Chiara Soldatini, a mother who moved her family to Spain last year after realising her parental rights were under threat in Italy.
“I am happy no one will now be able to challenge the fact our son is our son,” she told AFP. But she warned the fight is far from over: “I will only uncork the champagne when all those families with two dads can toast with me.”
While Thursday’s ruling focused on two-mother families, it reignited calls for broader reform — including the recognition of same-sex fathers, many of whom become parents through surrogacy, a practice banned in Italy and criminalised even if pursued abroad.
On the same day, a court in Pesaro, northern Italy, ruled in favour of a non-biological father seeking to adopt his son, who was born abroad via surrogacy — a rare legal victory for gay fathers under Italy’s current legal framework.
Opposition leader Elly Schlein, head of the centre-left Democratic Party (PD), welcomed the court’s ruling as “a heavy political defeat” for Meloni’s coalition.
“The government has used rainbow families as a political target,” she said. “But the courts are showing more courage than the politicians.”
Activists say Thursday’s decision is a crucial step in protecting children from being treated as collateral in political culture wars — but warn that without legislative reform, legal uncertainty remains for many families.
“Now is not the time to settle,” Soldatini said. “The law must protect all children, not just some.”
