The European Court of Human
Rights said Monday that Italy violated the rights of gay couple
for refusing to grant a residence permit to a New Zealander who
wanted to live with his Italian partner in Italy.
The court ordered Rome to pay damages of 20,000 euros.
The ruling will become definitive in three months if none
of the parties appeal.
The Strasbourg-based court ruled in favour of Roberto
Taddeucci and Douglas McCall, Italian and New Zealand nationals,
born in 1965 and 1958 respectively who now live in Amsterdam.
They lived together in New Zealand until December 2003,
when they decided to settle in Italy.
After McCall applied for a residence permit on family
grounds, the the Livorno chief of police dismissed the request
in October 2004. The couple successful appealed against the
decision, but the government managed to reverse the ruling.
"The restrictive interpretation of the notion of family
member constituted, for homosexual couples, an insuperable
obstacle to the granting of a residence permit on family
grounds," the European Court of Human Rights said.
"That restrictive interpretation of the concept of
family member, as applied to Mr McCall, did not take due account
of the applicants' personal situation and in particular their
inability to obtain a form of legal recognition of their
relationship in Italy.
"In deciding to treat homosexual couples in the same way
as heterosexual couples without any spousal status, the State
had breached the applicants' right not to be subjected to
discrimination based on sexual orientation in the enjoyment of
their rights under Article 8 of the Convention".
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