EU parliament recognises same sex families

Published on 15 March 2012 at 12:47

The resolution adopted by the European Parliament on Tuesday to foster male/female parity, contains a clause that opens a door to same-sex marriage. This may have gone unnoticed in most EU countries but it has caused quite a stir in Italy. Point 7 of the resolution, which is non-binding for member states, "regrets the implementation" in some EU countries of "restrictive definitions of 'family' in order to deny legal protection to same-sex couples and their children".

Italian daily La Stampa notes that an amendment proposed by the right (the majority group) aimed at deleting this point was defeated by 20 votes by the left, the environmentalists and the far-left. The Italian right, the paper says, condemns the "left's [decision] in favour of gay marriage". For Milan daily Il Giornale, "Europe wants to impose gay marriage on us". According to the paper, member states will be obliged to recognise same-sex marriages performed in other EU countries.

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