1 million rally for civil unions in Italy
By Ben Kelly
An estimated one million people have rallied across Italy this weekend, in support of the introduction of civil unions for the country.
Calling it “a historic day for our country,” LGBT group Arcigay reported there were 1 million people on the streets, throughout nearly 100 Italian cities on Saturday, with even conservative estimates citing hundreds of thousands of people took part.
This Thursday, the Italian Senate will debate a bill which would legalize civil partnership for homosexuals as well as unmarried heterosexual couples, though opponents fear the bill will pave the road for gay marriage.
It is a measure which has long been promised by the social-democratic Prime Minister Matteo Renzi.
“In Italy people think that there are those who are allowed to have rights and those who aren’t,” Liliana Rizzo, a member of a gay parents’ association, told Reuters at a rally outside the Pantheon in central Rome.
Millan right now for LGBT rights. #svegliaitalia pic.twitter.com/9W9fE3Dgnx
— m(art)ina (@ItalianLMonster) January 23, 2016
Love conquers all. Time to wake up Italy. Your country is calling #svegliaitalia pic.twitter.com/SEC5ZVYTYi
— Georgette Jupe (@girlinflorence) January 23, 2016
Milan is a rainbow. #svegliaitalia pic.twitter.com/8veuEm8CxO
— Mario Manca (@MarioManca) January 23, 2016
Italy is the only country in western Europe without any kind of recognition for same-sex partnerships.
The European Court of Human Rights has condemned Italy for this, and although it is desired by many in the country (an estimated 46% as of 2016), the influence of the Catholic Church still looms large.
Speaking to member of the Vatican court’s judiciaries – the Roman Rota – on Friday, Pope Francis reinforced the Catholic Church’s opposition to civil unions saying, “there can be no confusion between the family desired by God and any other kind of union.”
“The family, based on indissoluble, unitive and procreative marriage, is part of God’s ‘dream’ and the church’s for the salvation of humanity,” he said.
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