The Prefect of Milan ordered the Mayor Beppe Sala to block the transcription of birth certificates of children born on the initiative of same-sex couples. For instance, it will no longer be possible to fully transcribe birth certificates made abroad -in Ukraine, Canada, California, etc- by uterus for rentwhich also applies to heterosexual couples who have undertaken this practice.
We radical feminists had appealed to the prefect to order Mayor Sala to respect Law 40 in addition to the numerous rulings of the Court of Cassation which, invariably reiterating their condemnation of the practice, indicated as a solution the registration in the registry office of the biological parent only and the adoption route in special cases for his or her partner. We had also presented a exposed in this sense to the Milan Public Prosecutor's Office. We can therefore only welcome the prefect's decision on the instructions of the Ministry of the Interior, which is responsible for civil status.
Today you will read in some newspapers that these girls and boys will have fewer rights than others and will be treated as unequal. It is precisely the opposite.
These children will have the same rights as everyone (school, paediatrician, etc.) because these rights are normally granted to all children registered at the registry office as the children of a single parent: most frequently, that of single mothers. Above all, these girls and boys will be assured the right to the truth about their origins - a right reaffirmed by all international conventions which they would be denied if their birth certificates were falsely declared, i.e. that they are the children of a 'second father' or a mother who has no biological connection to them. These girls and boys will be able to acquire a second parent through the institution of adoption in special cases, the same route that is normally taken in the case -it is the most frequent case- of single mothers that they marry and wish their husband to be recognised in all respects as the father of their child. Any other course of action, in particular the false declaration of the paternity of the child, would constitute alteration of marital status and would be prosecuted as a violation of public order. Since the Constitution wants us to be equal before the law -Art. 3- it is not permissible that only a few, the so-called 'homogenous', are allowed to perjure themselves.
For all these reasons, the decision of the Prefect and the Ministry of the Interior makes girls and boys born to same-sex couples more equal and not less equal, guaranteeing them the same treatment and the same rights as all newborns.
Marina Terragni
