Rome has just had its first same-sex union

The first same-sex civil union has been held in Rome. The ceremony has happened three months after a law came into force that accepts same sex unions. Italy was the last member of the EU to legally recognise same-sex unions. The civil union bill came about after the European Court of Human Rights upheld complaints of discrimination by

Building bridge between Rome and Vilnius

Two Italian guys, Serena Cantoni and Marco Quaresima, came to Vilnius last week to conduct a research on the LGBT* general situation in Lithuania and realize a photo traveling exhibit that will connect Rome with Vilnius, creating a new international relationship. Our European Volunteer Service (EVS) volunteers, Yuri and Marina (the EVS is a project

Thursday, June 30th, the European Court of Human Rights ruled in Taddeucci and McCall v Italy, that the refusal to grant one partner in a same-sex couple a residence permit violated their rights under the European Convention on Human Rights, particularly Article 14, prohibition of discrimination, taken with Article 8, respect for family life. The

Italy says ‘yes’ to gay civil unions in historic vote

The Italian government finally approved a bill to allow gay civil unions, after a long and bitter debate that has pitted the Catholic Church against Prime Minister Matteo Renzi. In order to speed up the bill’s passage, Italian Prime Minister, Matteo Renzi, called a confidence vote in Italy’s lower house on Wednesday saying it was

Italian Senate approves civil unions for gay and heterosexual couples

Politicians in Rome have approved a bill recognizing civil unions for same sex and heterosexual couples. However, Prime Minister Matteo Renzi had to water down the legislation a great deal for the Upper House’s approval. Prime Minister Renzi would have had to resign had he lost Thursday’s vote, but 173 members voted for the bill

“I am a homosexual priest, happy and proud of my own identity”

The Vatican on Saturday sacked a gay priest after he came out as gay on the eve of a major meeting of bishops where the Church’s stance on homosexuality is expected to be discussed. Monsignor Krzysztof Charamsa, a Polish theologian, had worked at the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican’s doctrinal arm, since 2003. He

Italy joins Argentina, Denmark, Malta and Ireland in acknowledging the right of trans people to self-determine their own identity. Italy has become the fifth country in the world to acknowledge that trans people are allowed to identify as trans without medical, surgery or genital intervention. Following a historic decision by the Italian Supreme Court this week,

The new judgement by the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) on legal recognition of same-sex relationships is significant for Lithuania, says a lawyer of the Vilnius-based Human Rights Monitoring Institute (HRMI). Natalija Bitiukova, i.e the deputy director of HRMI, emphasized the significance of the court’s ruling handed down on July 21st, 2015, which indicated

Lithuanian Parliament Speaker ‘Not Ready’ for Same-Sex Partnerships

The Lithuanian society is not ready for same-sex partnerships, Speaker of the Lithuanian Seimas Loreta Graužinienė claims. “Our society is not ready for such an action [legislating on same-sex partnership],” she told the Žinių Radijas news radio on July 22nd, 2015. In her words, such decisions could be made after a new and more tolerant

European court: Italy violates rights of same-sex couples

A European court on Tuesday ruled same-sex couples in Italy face human rights violations because the country has not “sufficiently” recognized them. A seven-judge panel with the European Court of Human Rights issued its unanimous ruling in a case brought by three gay couples who are unable to marry under current Italian law. The decision