Italy’s Supreme Court of Cassation has restored the use of ‘parent 1’ and ‘parent 2’ on Italian ID cards because it deemed that calling parents ‘father’ and ‘mother’ is discriminatory against same-sex couples.
The use of the terms ‘parent 1’ and ‘parent 2’ was introduced in 2015 by the centre-left government of Matteo Renzi. In 2019, Matteo Salvini, then minister of the interior, reversed this provision and reinstated the terms ‘father’ and ‘mother’ based on biological parenthood, prompting vigorous opposition from LGBT lobbyists and left-wing parties.
A female same-sex couple filed an appeal with the court in Rome, which then cancelled Salvini’s decree. The court ruled in their favour because of the risk of “distorting reality,” as a woman could be labelled as ‘father’ and a man as ‘mother.’
Conservative prime minister Giorgia Meloni announced the return of the terms ‘father’ and ‘mother’ on identity documents in 2023. Same-sex couples have since appealed, but their cases have been handled individually by the courts.
Left-wing MP Alessandro Zan welcomed the most recent decision, saying it has “shattered the Right’s ideological crusade against rainbow families.”
On the other hand, Rossano Sasso, a politician of the governing right-wing Lega party, called the ruling an “ideological decision” against “our identity, families, and traditions.”
