Catholic Italy mobilises as conservatives mount last stand against same-sex unions
In the last country in western Europe not to offer rights to gay couples, thousands gather to condemn - or support - a change in the law
Rosie Scammell in Rome
Saturday 30 January 2016 19.04 EST
It has been 2,000 years since Romans gathered at the Circus Maximus to watch chariots roar around the racetrack, but a new battle was brought to the ancient site on Saturday .
Clutching banners reading “We defend our children” and “The family is founded on marriage between a man and a woman”, hundreds of thousands of people gathered for a “Family Day” to protest against a proposed bill to legalise same-sex unions.
“We have a lot of grandchildren; their future is ruined if marriage is destroyed,” said protester Ida. “Children have a right to have a mother and a father. To grow up healthy, they need a male and a female figure.”
The law, currently facing fierce debate in the senate, is aimed at granting legal rights to same-sex couples for the first time in Italy. Among the provisions are civil partnerships, the right to inherit a partner’s pension and a controversial “stepchild adoption” article which would allow a child legally to have same-sex parents in the case of a gay person adopting their partner’s biological child.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jan/31/same-sex-marriage-mass-rally-rome
