The leader of Italy's rightwing Northern League on Wednesday slammed an historic ruling by local court granting two gay men dual paternity of two children born in the US to a surrogate mother impregnated with one of the men's sperm.
"Wombs for hire, children purchased, parents 1 and 2 who cancel out the mother and the father. This is not progress but egoism and madness," tweeted Matteo Salvini.
His tweet came after a landmark judgement by an appeals court in the northern Italian city of Trento that recognised both the men as the children's fathers, as stated on their birth certificates, according to report on the Article29 website Tuesday.
In their ruling, the court's judges noted that the foreign birth certificate was valid because in Italy parental relationships are not determined solely by biological relationships.
"On the contrary," said the judges. "One must consider the importance of parental responsibility, which is manifested in the conscious decision to have and care for a child."
Italian law bans couples from using a surrogate mother, and anyone caught entering into a surrogacy agreement faces up to two years in prison and a fine of up to a million euros.
Adoption rights for gay couples are currently granted on a case-by-case basis.
It is currently very difficult for same-sex couples to adopt, including their partner's child from a previous relationship after a stepchild adoption clause was scrubbed from legislation allowing same-sex unions passed last year.
