A general view of the Italian Senate in Rome
Tony Gentile / Reuters
The Italian Senate signed off on legislation on Thursday creating a civil union status for same-sex couples after a bitter debate that dominated Italian politics for months.
The vote was 173 in favor and 71 against, Italian newspaper La Repubblica reported.The bill must now must be approved by the Parliament's lower house, but it is expected to encounter much less resistance there than it did in the Senate.
But if the legislation is adopted in its current form, it will not be an end to the fight over same-sex couples' rights. The government of Prime Minister Matteo Renzi traded away provisions important to LGBT activists in order to clear the path for Thursday's vote, including a person's right to adopt the child of a same-sex partner. LGBT groups are vowing a new fight against Renzi's ruling coalition and litigation challenging provisions that they see as discriminatory.
"Pontius Pilate could not have done better," a broad coalition of LGBT groups said in a statement denouncing the compromise issued shortly before the Senate vote. If this bill is adopted as is, the groups said, would make Italy "unlike almost any other country in [the European Union] and unique among its founding countries, [ignoring] completely the existence and needs of the sons and daughters of gay couples."
"Now our battle - concluding the associations - will continue in the streets and in the courts," they promised.
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