Significant turning point for Padua's homosexual mothers: Public Prosecutor's Office sides with constitutional challenge

A crucial turning point has characterised the first round of hearings at the Civil Court of Padua, regarding the challenge to the birth certificates of the children of homosexual couples. An important decision that’s taken place, sees a change of position by the Public Prosecutor’s Office, which now recognises a question of unconstitutionality and suggests that the Constitutional Court examines the matter.

The 33 oppositions refer to the transcription of children with two mothers, registered with double surnames, which was enacted from 2017 in the Municipality of Padua. This led to the trial in which the Court will have to consider whether to accept or reject these oppositions.

The same-sex couples, who face protests outside of the court, are not optimistic about the hearing. For days, they’ve been exchanging legal opinions amongst themselves, some of which include foster care as a possible solution to prevent the children from being left unprotected if the objections are upheld.

Amongst the documents submitted in the files by the tutelary judges addressed by the Court, one notes; in the absence of legislative intervention, the adoption procedure in special cases is currently the only institution in the legal system that recognises the child’s status as a child of the intending parent.

Despite the position previously expressed by the Rainbow Mothers movement, which supports the recognition of a registry record including the surnames of both mothers, the outcome of the first four hearings revived the confidence of Padua’s same-sex couples.

Lawyer Susanna Lollini, who defended some of the couples involved, stated that the judges had shown great interest in the question of the inadmissibility of such proceedings, indicating that the Public Prosecutor’s office had changed its position by joining the question of unconstitutionality raised by the mothers’ lawyers.

It is now up to the Court to raise the question of constitutionality, and to ask the Constitutional Court to examine whether the exclusion of female couples from the rules of recognition of children born through heterologous fertilisation, infringes their rights, and those of their children.

This crucial step could shape the future of same-sex couples in Padua and potentially shed new light on the issue at national level. The hearings are scheduled to run until the end of December, and the case is attracting the attention of many LGBTQI+ rights advocates and politicians, who consider it essential to address this issue in accordance with the principles of equality and fundamental rights.

Cynthia Cortés Castillo, Digital Marketing Executive