“We are all families” shout in chorus the rainbow mothers arriving outside the Venice Santa Lucia station from all over the province of Padua on the occasion of the hearing in the Court of Appeal, called to rule on the appeal of the Ministry of the Interior against the sentences of the Padua court on the cancellation of the birth certificates of 37 children with two mothers.
Last March 5, the Padua court rejected the appeals of the Prosecutor’s Office, dated June 2023, which asked to cancel the name of the intended mother, i.e. the one who had not given birth to them, from the birth certificates of children of same-parent couples.
The children, aged from zero to approximately seven years old, were all conceived abroad with heterologous fertilization and recognized in Italy as children of both women of the couple. The Padua court, however, declared the appeals inadmissible and confirmed the validity of the birth certificates registered with both women.
Here is the procession of rainbow mothers in Venice
“We asked for three oral hearings of the 30 cases for which we have the common defense” explains the lawyer Michele Giarratano, “it was important because the judges were able to realize that we are not just talking about numbers, but about stories, about people” he added.
Among the cases that reached the judge’s desk, that of a 2-year-old girl who risks becoming an orphan since her biological mother has a very serious carcinoma. In the event that she died, the child would have a kind mother, a stranger to the state, and she would therefore be adoptable.
Lawyers are not too optimistic. “The cassation is going in a stubborn and contrary direction, so it becomes urgent for parliament to legislate, which it has not done, or for the Constitutional Court to intervene” continues Giarratano. The hope, confirm the lawyers of Rete Lenford, Valentina Pizziol and Stefano Chinotti: “We trust that there will be a referral to the Constitutional Court, we have a fierce General Prosecutor’s Office, as well as the Ministry, both very firm in their positions. We did everything we could.”
The time of waiting begins now, because a response from the Court of Appeal will probably not arrive until after the summer. “We continue to carry on our fight. It’s love that makes a family” the mothers reiterate.
