New law in Padua – children of homosexuals can only have one mother: “What will happen to our daughter if I die of cancer?”

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The wind from the right is increasingly blowing icy faces at the Italian LGBTQ community. During the election campaign, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni (43) announced that Italy does not tolerate homosexual families. Marriage is prohibited. Surrogacy is a criminal offense. This should soon also apply to surrogacy abroad. According to Meloni, Italian children have a right to mom and dad. However, there is no national law in Italy that explicitly protects the well-being of the child in this sense.

Despite the tough attitude of the right-wing populist government, cities and municipalities turned a blind eye until recently. Rainbow children born abroad and their same-sex parents have so far been recognized as a family. Almost a decade ago, the first juvenile courts began to recognize children of lesbian parents as part of an adoption procedure. From 2017, foreign birth certificates of children of homosexual parents were overwritten in Italy.

33 rainbow children have been affected

This is now coming to an end. In the spring, the Italian Ministry of the Interior ordered the prefects in their region to ban registration of both parents by the registry office. The parquet of Padua tightens the screws even further. She even wants to remove the entry from the birth certificate later. After that, only the mother who gives birth or the father who produces the child is entitled to a son or daughter. 33 children are affected. Among them the little Vittoria Finesso Zambon (1).

Mother Vanessa Finesso is furious. She lives in a lesbian partnership. They have a daughter with their ‘wife’ Cristina Zambon (34). Cristina’s egg was fertilized with donor sperm in 2021 and implanted in Vanessa’s uterus. Artificial insemination was performed in Spain. Vittoria was born in Padua in 2022. “I gave birth to her, but Vittoria has Cristina’s DNA,” Vanessa Finesso told Italian media. Now she is the only mother eligible.

The adoption process takes a long time and is very expensive

“I have bone cancer and have just had surgery for a tumour. What would happen to Vittoria if I died?” asks Vanessa Finesso. Without a record as a parent, the little girl would lose her second mother, Cristina. She would then no longer have the right to care for the child. “Vittoria would not only lose her second mother, but also Cristina’s entire family,” says Vanessa Finesso.

All that would be left for the two women would be a stepchild adoption. But even that is difficult in Italy, as homosexuals are not allowed to marry. The process takes years because Italy’s courts are chronically overburdened. It is also expensive and a positive result is by no means guaranteed.

Source: Blick