Italy’s highest court rejects attempt to force ‘gay marriage’, but pushes for civil unions
ROME– Italy ’s highest court has ruled that it is not “discrimination” for Parliament to refuse to create “ gay marriage ” but that the “rights” of homosexual persons must be upheld by a “protective statute.” The Court of Cassation, the country’s constitutional court, rejected an appeal brought by homosexual activists in an attempt to force the redefinition of marriage . With its constitutional definition of the family as “a natural society founded on marriage,” and with strong public opinion against “gay marriage,” Italy remains one of the last holdouts in the European Union to have not granted legal recognition to homosexual partnerings. That situation, however, has been under a constant barrage of litigation and lobbying efforts in the courts and Parliament, pressure that has increased significantly in the last three years. In its ruling this week, the court rejected the proposal that “the absence of a law for gay marriage produces discrimination.” But it followed this with