Italian court claims gay couple’s twin children aren’t brothers

A gay Italian couple were given the gift of twin baby boys with the help of in vitro fertilization and a surrogate mother in California, but faced opposition as soon as they returned to their home country.

When they returned to Milan with the newborns, a clerk at the registry office refused to transcribe the babies’ birth certificates, preventing them from the boys as their legal children, the Washington Post reports.

Surrogacy is illegal in Italy, and issues with parents registering their children as their own when returning home after turning to a surrogate is not uncommon. What happened in court after the couple sued was, however.

Since both men used their own separate sperm to fertilize the eggs, a judge ruled that each of the men could register their biological son as their own. The babies could not be registered as children of the couple and are not to be recognized as brothers, however, despite having the same mother.

Not only is surrogacy illegal in Italy, but in vitro fertilization is also limited to heterosexual couples, who must use their own sperm and eggs.

While same-sex civil unions was made legal last year in the country, same-sex marriage and adoption are still banned, meaning the men cannot even adopt their non-biological sons.

Source: Italian court claims gay couple’s twin children aren’t brothers

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