(by Stefania Fumo).
A conference of Senate whips on
Wednesday postponed voting on the government's hotly contested
civil unions bill to next Tuesday.
Earlier, the Senate rejected a motion to not vote on the
the bill article by article.
If that motion had passed, it would effectively halt debate
of the bill that would extend to gay couples many of the rights
and protections heterosexual spouses enjoy.
The motion was rejected by 195 lawmakers, with 101 voting
in favor and one abstaining. It was filed by former center-right
reforms minister Gaetano Quagliariello, founder of a New Center
Right (NCD) splinter party called Identity and Action (IDEA).
Also on Wednesday, the ruling centre-left Democratic Party
(PD) and the opposition rightwing Northern League (LN) met to
discuss a deal to cut amendments to the bill, but both sides
came up empty.
The League said last week it would cut 4,500 of its
amendments, leaving about 500 of them, in a deal with the PD
which envisaged the withdrawal of PD's two so-called 'kangaroo'
amendments that cancel out all similar amendments.
The PD called Wednesday's meeting "not constructive" while
LN Senator Roberto Calderoli said it was a "work in progress".
The PD earlier gave its lawmakers the freedom to vote their
conscience on three amendments to the bill. One would scrap a
provision allowing one partner in a civil union to adopt the
other's biological child, replacing this with so-called
reinforced fostering. The so-called stepchild adoption provision
is the most controversial part of the bill.
Opponents, including some Catholic members of the PD, fear
it will encourage gay couples to seek to have children with
surrogate mothers abroad - a practice that is illegal in Italy.
Proponents say that in Italy, children of gay parents risk
ending up in the foster system if their biological parent dies,
because the other parent has no legal custody of them.
Italy is the only western European country not to have
either legalised gay marriage or recognised civil unions between
same-sex couples. The European Court of Human Rights has urged
Italy to remedy this disparity between gay and straight
citizens.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © Copyright ANSA
