Anger as Italy prepares to drop gay adoption from same-sex union bill

It’s being reported that following stiff opposing from lawmakers, a bill to allow same unions in Italy will no longer legalise limited gay adoption.

Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has told his Democratic Party to “water down” the controversial bill so that it has a chance of being passed by parliament.

The country is the last major European nation to still not recognise lesbian and gay relationships, in large part due to fierce opposition from the Catholic Church.

Renzi aims to remove measures in the proposed law that would have allowed gay people to adopt their partner’s biological children. He hopes that the compromise will finally see marriage equality become a reality in Italy.

The prime minister’s move was condemned by Italian LGBT rights group, Rainbow Families, which said in a statement that it was “absolutely opposed” to amending the “already compromised” bill.

The outraged group dismissed the argument that the new compromise was about accepting “political realism” and argued that it was based on “cynicism and homophobia that we cannot accept”.

It added that, “a law on civil unions without the stepchild adoption would be clearly unconstitutional and would open a flood of cases.”

In July last year, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Italy was violating the human rights of gay and lesbian couples by not affording them any legal recognition.