In a landmark ruling on April 9, the Italian Court of Cassation restored LGBTQ+-inclusive parental terms to minors’ identity cards, allowing the gender-neutral term ‘parents’ to replace ‘madre’ (mother) and ‘padre’ (father).

The issue was brought to the Constitutional Court following concerns that forcing same-sex parents to use these terms to represent their relationship was a serious and discriminatory violation. A family with two mothers, one by birth and one by adoption, was forced to have one parent denote her parental relationship as ‘father’. Instead, they requested that the ID card instead display their names as ‘parent’ or ‘parent/mother – parent/mother’.

According to the Court of Cassation ruling, adoption establishes full and valid family ties in the eye of the law, and therefore, families can be composed of two mothers or two fathers. When a child has two legally recognised parents of the same sex, the identity document should reflect the reality of those families. Denying this possibility would mean not recognising the parental bond between the minor and the adoptive mother, already established under Italian law.

The Constitutional Court ultimately rejected the appeal of the Ministry of the Interior, declaring that the exclusive use of ‘padre’ and ‘madre’ is “unreasonable and discriminatory” and does not accurately represent the family status of children with same-sex parents.

The ruling follows a 2019 ministerial decree in which the Court of Cassation initially eliminated the term ‘parents’ on the identity cards of children and reduced the available options to the mandatory labels of ‘father’ and ‘mother’ regardless of the parents’ genders. It has sparked debate and criticism from conservative outlets in Italy and highlights the ongoing discussions about family definitions in the country. However, supporters hope the ruling symbolises an important turning point for the rights of LGBTQ+ families and leads to a broader acceptance of diverse family structures. 

Italy gained international criticism in 2023 for removing lesbian parents from children’s birth certificates. Last year, the nation also passed Europe’s strictest anti-surrogacy ban, a measure that has been deeply criticised by LGBTQ+ activists since it disproportionately impacts same-sex parents.

Following this week’s ruling, Fabrizio Marrazzo, spokesperson for the Gay Party, called for the annulment of the Salvini decree and a referendum on equal marriage. Similarly, Riccardo Magi, secretary of the PiùEuropa party, celebrated the ruling as a significant step towards ending discrimination. He said: “This ruling ends Salvini’s discrimination and a senseless crusade against the use of the term parent.”

Democratic Party and MEP leader, Alessandro Zan, called the move a “historic ruling, which establishes a firm point: the protection of the rights of all children is a priority.”