Italy’s PM Mario Monti opposes same-sex marriage and adoption rights
January 17, 2013 /LGBT News/ Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti, who is running for re-election in February, has said he opposes same-sex marriage and adoption rights for gay people. This is the first time Monti has made a social issue part of his campaign.
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| Mario Monti, by Aenea Studio |
“My thought is that the family should be made up of one man and one woman, and I consider it necessary that children should grow up with a mother and a father,” Monti told a television interviewer on Wednesday. “Parliament can find other solutions for other kinds of unions and cohabitations,” he added.
Monti’s words have been criticized by LGBT associations in Italy who have accused him of putting his Christianity ahead of gay citizens.
“The statement is a bit too general for a leader who is inspired by Europe and aims to continue to lead the government of the country,” spokesman for Rome’s Gay Centre Fabrizio Marrazzo said. “It seems that many politicians, including Monti, are more inclined to say ‘no’ to marriage and reaffirm that the family is only based on a heterosexual couple,” he added. “In short, it is a way to discriminate against gay couples.”
Monti’s comments came on the same day Alessio De Giorgi, founder of leading LGBT website Gay.it, quit the general electoral race. De Giorgi was running with Monti’s right of center party to become a Member of Parliament for the Tuscany region.
Support for Monti’s group fell to 14.8 percent in a survey carried out on January 14 from 15.1 percent a week earlier. Support for the rival group led by Berlusconi rose 1.9 points to 26.3 percent in the same period.
Monti’s campaign was endorsed last month by the Vatican’s newspaper L’Osservatore Romano, which has been increasingly vocal in its opposition to same-sex marriage in recent months.
Gay couples in Italy are currently banned from adopting or entering into same-sex marriages, and none of Monti’s main contenders in the elections has come out in favour of gay marriage or gay adoption rights, although PD leader Pier Luigi Bersani is in favour of bringing in Germany-style civil unions.
The Italian general election will take place on 24–25 February 2013.
