SUPPORT THE FREEDOM TO MARRY IN ITALY!

On March 23rd, the Italian Constitutional Court took the bench to hear oral arguments on the same sex marriage case. The judges of the Constitutional Court apperead very interested. The ruling on case is expected to be delivered between 12th and 15th April 2010.

Join the petition in support of the freedom to marry in Italy!
On 23rd March the Italian Constitutional Court will decide whether several articles of the Civil Code (art. 93, 96, 98, 107, 108, 143, 143-bis, and 156-bis)  restricting civil marriage to “husband and wife” rather than “spouses” discriminate against same-sex couples, and infringe upon the principles of equality and non-discrimination protected by the Constitution.
Legally speaking in Italy there is neither a legal “definition” of marriage nor an express restriction on the marriage of same-sex couples. Moreover a requirement that the parties must be of opposite sex is not specified.
Therefore, during 2007 two Italian associations, Certi Diritti and Rete Lenford, jointly launched the national campaign called Affermazione Civile (Civil Affirmation). The aim of the campaign is to bring an end to the exclusion of committed same-sex couples from civil marriage.
Gay people have the same mix of reasons as non-gay people for wanting the freedom to marry, and the law should not discriminate against committed couples or deny them civil marriage licenses with the same responsibilities, same rules, and same respect.

It is hoped that the Italian Constitutional Court will uphold the principle of equality and non-discrimination, and respect the distinction between religious marriage and civil marriage, when it rules on March 23.
However, the Italian political scene is not friendly. Politicians pretend that same-sex families do not exist, and the media only allow for a stereotypical and narrow-minded representation of the LGBT population.
We ask your help to make Italian society aware that LGBT and their children have rights — including the right to marry, the right to have a family, and the right to equality under the law – and that the discriminatory denial of the freedom to marry harms families while helping no one, undermining the just society.

1)    Sign the appeal supporting the freedom to marry court case, sending a message that the world is watching to: petition@retelenford.it

2)    Spread the news that on March 23rd the Constitutional Court in Italy will pass a judgment on same-sex marriage.
3)    Ask the media in your country to report the court case.

In 2006 and 2007, Rete Lenford participated in drafting legislative proposals aimed at creating a civil partnership status for couples in Italy denied marriage. Once it was apparent that the legislature would not act to protect all couples, the lawyers of the association began this campaign to end exclusion from marriage. Along with outreach to academic and opinion-leaders, Rete Lenford agreed to support a number of couples, seeking to marry in their City Halls and fight for their right to equality under the law. The association Certi Diritti provided political, logistic and communication support.
A number of same-sex couples applied for wedding banns at their City Halls (a necessary preliminary step to be allowed to marry, as provided by article 93 of the Civil Code). Their applications were arbitrarily denied, leading to the current court challenges.
The denial of the freedom to marry to these committed couples violates several principles of the Italian Constitution, including the respect for each individual and her fundamental rights (including the right to form a family), the principle of non-discrimination, the right to liberty, and individual self-determination.
The plaintiffs are seeking a declaration that those articles of the Italian Civil Code specifying ‘husband’ and ‘wife’ constitute an illegitimate basis for denying the freedom to marry, discriminating against same-sex couples.
In many of the challenges, the lower courts rejected the plaintiffs’ position, contending that. (1), marriage is traditionally considered to be restricted to heterosexual couples, and (2), vindication of rights such as those at issue in this case is for Parliament, not the courts.  However, the Tribunal of Venice, the Tribunal of Ferrara, the Court of Appeal of Trento, and the Court of Appeal of Florence, between April and December 2009, ruled for the plaintiffs. The four courts chose to refer the case to the Constitutional Court.

PEOPLE WHO HAVE SIGNED THE PETITION:

Michael Cashman (Co-President of the European Parliament’s Intergroup on LGBT Rights);

Cornelia Ernst (MEP-European Parliament);

Sarah Ludford (MEP- European Parliament);

Eva-Britt Svensson (MEP-Euroepan Parliament);

Niccolo’ Rinaldi (MEP-European Parliament);

Andrew Duff (MEP-European Parliament);

Bruno Selun (MEP-European Parliament);

Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert (MEP-European Parliament);

Silvie Guillaume (MEP-European Parliament);

Raul Romeva i Rueda (MEP-European Parliament);

Nikolai Alekseev (Marriage Equality Russia);

Tamara Adrian (Diversidad e Igualdad a traves de la Ley DIVERLEX);

National MSM and HIV Policy Advocacy and Human Rights Task Force-India;

Mongolian LGBT Centre NGO;

Moninne Griffith (Marriage Equality Ireland);

Patria Jimenez (El Closet de Sor Juana)

Gloria Careaga (Fundacion Arcoiris)

International Day Against Homophobia Committee (IDAHO)

Louis-George Tin (Founder of International Day Against Homophobia Committee)

IRQO (Iranian Queer Organization)

Manuel Serrano (Secretario de la Asociacion de Madres y Padres con hijos homosexuales- FAMILIAS POR LA DIVERSIDAD)

Giuseppe Mancini (Presidente Legambiente, Circolo ‘Occhi Verdi’ Pontecagnano-SA)

Georges Kanuma (Sexual Minority Human Defender MSM Project Manager in ANSS)

Azione Gay e Lesbica Firenze

Catalina Lleras (Colombia Diversa)

Confederacion Espanola COLEGAS (Asociaciones de Lesbianas, Gays, Bisexuales y Transgenero)

Familias por la Diversidad (Asociacion Anadluza de Madres y Padres con Hijos-as Homosexuales)

SOAS GBLT Society

Deborah Swain; Don Marshall; Henriette Ring; Francesca Mocci; J.Stephen Brantley; Peter Furness; Leah Tedesco; Lee Andersen; Varpu; Annabelle Dos Santos; Sue Bond; Matteo Pegoraro; Ray Goodlass; Lucian Cossich; Dante Deen; Caterina Camastra; John Falcone; Utz Weber; Mike Rosanova; Christopher Marshall; Utz Weber; Mike Rosanova; Christophe Bedeaux; Paul Bridgewater; Anne Burbidge; Br. Michael C. Oboza; Michael Palmer; Mara Medina; Chris McCabe; Katha Pollit; Pian Tollan; Emanuele Sir Galahad; Ralph Passante; Davina Kotulski; J.Scott Coatsworth; Luciano Xumerle; Irene Di Carlo; Maria Gavriel; Mylo Egipciaco; John Lucas Arnold; Lionel Millard; Daniel Boettcher; Matthew B. Winkel; Daniela Tomasino; Harriet Yudkin; James Francis; Giuseppe Eduardo Polizzi; Antonio Polizzi; Rosa Jessie Polizzi; Concetta Marchese; Maria Federica Moscati; Mark Satterthwaite; Grainne Healy; Jose’ Ramo’n Merentes
Correa; Giovanni Tarullo; Elisa Nesossi; Elva Bova; Mike Rosanova; Wendell Ricketts; Chris Elliott; Carlos Villagrasa Alcaide; Emily J.Keller; Ottavio Marzocchi; Robert Austen-Brown; Alexandra Braguti; Marco Tamburro; Maria Fausta Marino; Daniel Tetreault; Giulietta Mai; Maria Majewski; Ignacio Lara; Jeremiah Kelly; Andrew Mark Holland; Isabella Zani; Lynda Jones; Adrian Villalobos; Matteo Pegoraro; Davide Simone Nardi; David S.Monge; Sara Silvestro; Jerome Duberry; Rossella Liscio; Fabrice Thivent; Sue Wilkinson; David Kong-Hug; Francesco Carella; Giampiero Mancinelli; Glenci Carvillo; Stefano Costa; Giovanna Zunica; Daniel Morris; Felice Iorio; Elena Falletti; Yvonne Woods; Stefano Costa; Giovanni Cozzi; Rosa Devine; Rita Vieira Pinto; Mark Guzman; Brian Streig; Rennan Diniz; Barbara Hughes; Rahul Rao; Filippo De Danieli; Francesco Chiti; Tudor Kovacs; Daniela Gasparin; Nick Raider; Maria Grazia Sangalli; Bernard Nickerson; Gelareh Mostashari; Dimitri Stavropoulos; Ellen Judd;  Claudio Sbenaglia; Diego Rizzo; Effiong L.Ntuk; Susanna Bigi; Simona Pragliola; Vittoria A. Pragliola; Carolina Caverni; Riccardo Caverni; Annamaria Lanni; Mara Asaro; Mariapia Bianchi; Gulnara Bayanova; Marco Carnabuci; Annamaria Di Muro; Molly Ryan Strehorn; Kregg C.Strehorn; Jacqueline Kolb; Rosa Campopiano; Francoise Kohler; Francesco Carella; Boyer P.August; Alberto Curotto; David J.Monson; Chris Barnett; Allen Eisenach; Katryn Lum; Sherri L.Rase; Daniel Fresco; Patricia Ng; Vincent Cannavo; Eloise Beasley; Sinead Ni’ Bheolain; Leoni Silvia; Joe Palmer; Giselda Fernandes; Manuel Quintero; Anne Koch; Debora Mauri; Marianna Di Santo; Elian Chabbou; Michele Pote’;  Roberto Menendez; Henriette Ring; Antonello Irace; Christian Berges; Beaulah Nel; Paul Cotton; Virginia Van der Borgt; Julian Abbott; Michele Carusi; William Bush; Ian Williams; Anjelico from Singapore; Rev. Nadine Rawls; Silvia Bento; Yvette Choy; Alejandro Merino; Hina Pendle; Gavin Geoffrey Dillard; John Downes; Maggie Callahan; Lisa Vine; Christopher M.Holcombe; Silvio Bertante; Shishir Thadani; Chris Ashford; Eugenia Lopez Uribe; Andrea D’Ambrosio; Carla del Mese; Simon Evans; Amir Dizdarevic; Mary Shelden; Woodi Forlano; Cindy McCallum Miller; Paul S.Shepard; Diogenes Quest; Marc Vallve’ Bernal; Etienne Reny; Rebecca Nash; Joanne Martin; Marcella Montanari; Andrea Baraneko; Rebecca Shein; Valerio Bianchi; Jean Somers; Elisa Sibille; Javier Venegas; Mark Wagener-Perkins; Lou; Michael Schembri; Arnas Zdanevicius; Stevan McGlade; Fabio Regis; Dylan Cook; Craig de Vos; Marko Markov; Eleonora Zullo; Lars Eidevall; Viviana Rovira Maruri; Maria Gavriel; Jude Rene Montarsi; Johann du Plessis; Stephanie Seaman; John J.Cox; Pablo Ben; Arlene Naranjo; Kenneth Talbot; Kris Collaert; Rochelle Bloch; Margarida Peredes; Bertilla de Nardi; Go-Tove Sandsmark; Kate Trower; Jenny Clifford; Cecilia Minelli; Lara Olivetti; Beatrice Buchser; Isabelle Lotti; Phil D’Arcy; Akasha Lonsdale; Jose E.Rivera; Giuliana Liquori; Jeremy J Flutter; Roberto Zanone; Alon Kirsh; Kay Di Rezze; Gabriel V. Lopez-Allen; Angelo Scano; Hugh Magee; Lynette Richards; Daniele Forcati; Frans Rietbroek; Ernesto Marino; Barbara Bassani; Maria Belen Saavedra Prats; Fernando A. Castro; Yira Albornoz Cambiaso; Rafael Nunez Toso; Jason Menezes; Serena Menezes; Stella Menezes; Joseph Menezes; Justic Vidad.

For further information contact:

Rete Lenford
Maria Federica (Marica) Moscati
petition@retelenford.it

Allegati

Italy – Support the Freedom to Marry.doc