Rainbow families, in Italy living law exceeds the legislature

children of a lesser God to bearers of a right superior to any other: that to a status, from birth, of parenthood. For children born in Italy from medically assisted procreation, practised abroad in a country where it is lawful, Judgement No. 68 of 22 May marked a historic turning point, that to a commitment without return to assume parental responsibility also for the social mother.

With the possibility for the mother to recognise the child as her son, it will no longer be necessary for the non-biological mother to apply for adoption in special cases. An institute that - despite having been strengthened by the same Constitutional Court (sentence 79/2022) by cancelling the rule that prevented relations between the adoptee and the adopter's family - the same Court has branded as inadequate to ensure full protection for the child born through Planned Parenthood. Step child adoption, in fact, subordinates the acquisition of child status to the initiative of the would-be adoptive parent and to a procedure characterised by several variables: from time to costs. Time, above all, could play a role, in the event of deteriorated relations in the couple, in the rethinking of the mother of intention. An unknown factor cancelled by the law judge who, with the immediate recognition, made irrevocable, the commitment made by both mothers in the path of Pma. The beacon that guided the Constitutional Court - which was forced to intervene considering that the legislator's inertia could no longer be tolerated - was the child's superior interest in parenthood, for the Constitutional Court there is no 'counter-interest' of equal degree in the name of which it can be compressed. This is the decisive step in a ruling that has made life easier for women who share the path of medically assisted procreation, which is still prohibited in Italy for persons of the same sex. The Court's verdict should stop the 'discretionary power' of mayors, who had dealt with recognitions at the registry office by also settling legal battles between mothers and the Viminale. The Consulta's ruling is, in fact, directly applicable, making the fate of all pending judgments, as clarified by the Supreme Court in its ruling 15075 of 6 June, already marked in favour of the two mothers. But some mayors are resisting and so is the Viminale. The latter has reiterated its request for the social mother's name to be cancelled from the birth certificate in 33 proceedings before the Civil Court of Appeal in Venice, concerning as many children born through Planned Parenthood and registered with the surnames of both mothers. Some mayors are also overzealous. The latest case that has hit the headlines concerns the clash between two mayors: on the one hand the mayor of Lecco, who recognises the right of a child to have two mothers, and on the other the colleague of the town where the mother and child live, who instead refused to transcribe it and reported both the mayor of Lecco Mauro Gattinoni and the two mothers to the Public Prosecutor's Office. The judges thus ordered that the child's civil certificate - born in Lecco - delete the name of the intended mother and leave only that of the birth mother. After the Consulta, it was therefore once again necessary to go back to the magistrates, who gave the go-ahead for the double recognition and returned the seized identity card to the little girl.

The situation examined by the Constitutional Court, as specified by the Court itself, is clearly distinguished from the hypothesis of recourse to surrogate motherhood, a practice, the law judges reiterate, that violates the dignity of women. The so-called gestation for others, which therefore involves a third party other than the couple, was instead dealt with by the Ancona Juvenile Court, which gave the green light to a homogenous couple from Pesaro to adopt a second child, born through gestation for others (GPA) abroad. The verdict was issued in awareness of the need for protection regardless of the mode of birth and despite the approval of the law that made GPA a universal offence even if carried out in a foreign country.

For the child there is therefore adoption in special cases, an institute on which the Supreme Court has once again intervened, with a ruling on 18 June (no. 16242/2025) concerning a child, the son of two mothers, born through Planned Parenthood, affirmed the child's right to maintain the relationship and surname of the intended mother who adopted him, even if the biological mother opposes it and there is conflict between the two after the relationship has ended. For the Court of Cassation, the child's best interest is not necessarily identified with remaining within a united family nucleus, but lies in maintaining meaningful and continuous relations with both parents. If the latter have established an emotional relationship with him.