Health minister and New Centre
Right (NCD) member Beatrice Lorenzin said Wednesday she is
"absolutely against" a measure in the government's civil unions
bill allowing partners to adopt each other's biological children
- so-called stepchild adoption.
Lorenzin said having same-sex parents instead of
heterosexual ones "puts a strain on the child".
However she denied this issue will put a strain on the
governing left-right coalition, of which her small center-right
party is a junior member.
The health minister went on to reaffirm the NCD's
contention that stepchild adoption spelled "the legitimisation
of surrogate motherhood", which she called "ultra-prostitution".
She added that civil unions should be recognized and that
gay couples should be respected.
In Italy, children of same-sex couples currently risk
ending up in foster care if one of their parents die, because
the surviving parent has no legal custody of them.
The bill now before the Senate would also extend to
partners in a civil union some of the rights enjoyed by
heterosexual married couples, such as the right to inherit a
deceased spouse's benefits and property and to make decisions in
their stead should one partner become incapacitated.
Italy is the only western European country without
legalized gay marriage or civil unions between same-sex couples.
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