A staunchly Catholic politician recently appointed Minister for Family in the Italian government has spoken in an interview about his regressive views on women’s reproductive rights and rainbow families.

Lorenzo Fontana, a member of the Northern League party, was questioned by a journalist from the Corriere della Sera daily newspaper about the government’s refusal to allow gay people to foster or adopt. While at first Fontana said he would not discriminate against children from rainbow families, he then went on to deny their very existence. Following the journalist’s retort stating those families did indeed exist, Fontana answered “They don’t exist at the moment, as far as the law is concerned.”

Fontana has previously denied being homophobic, stating, “I have many homosexual friends. After all I lived in Brussels for many years where many gay people hold positions in institutions.” An odd response, as if similar positions were not held by the Italian LGBT+ community.

Fontana has previously expressed support for the views of the notoriously anti-LGBT+ Russian government, been critical of an Italian court which gave parental recognition to a gay couple and announced at an anti-abortion rally that gay marriage would wipe out “our community and traditions”. “I am Catholic”, he stated, “I do not hide it. That’s why I believe the family is the natural one, where a child must have a mother and a father.”

On the issue of women’s reproductive rights, Fontana also said he would do his utmost to reduce the number of women obtaining abortions, suggesting doctors should be encouraged to dissuade those seeking a human right.

His views have angered many, with his social media accounts being flooded with images of rainbow families accompanied with the statement ‘We Exist’. It was also reported his own personal website has been targeted by hackers so that those who searched for it on Google were instead presented with adverts for erectile dysfunction remedies in the search results.