The northern Italian city of Padua has started removing the names of non-biological gay mothers from their children’s birth certificates under new legislation passed by the “traditional family-first” government of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
The northern Italian city of Padua has started removing the names of non-biological gay mothers from their children’s birth certificates under new legislation passed by the “traditional family-first” government of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
Isn’t the whole point of a birth certificate that it records the birth parents?
Honestly I’m surprised it was ever allowed. A birth certificate should serve as a historical genealogical record and might be useful for tracking, for example, hereditary diseases like Huntington’s. It’s not much use if it’s got an unrelated adoptive parent on it. Maybe there should be an additional field for legal caregiver when there’s a difference.
What about if the father is an anonymous sperm donor? Why wouldn’t you write the other mom’s name in the birth certificate?
I would say it should still function as a genealogical record for a number of reasons, particularly as a useful medical record. If unknown, that should be specified - or include a reference to their anonymous medical records.
There could be another field for adoptive second parent at birth, if this is necessary. Otherwise I can see how it might cause problems for the adoptive parent in the event of a divorce. Although my understanding is this is already a formalised process, just different paperwork.
You’d be entirely correct in that understanding. Unfortunately the actual facts of the situation don’t make for a convincing piece of propaganda about just how victimized people are.