SThey left for Germany, to get married where the law allows it without hesitation. But upon returning to Poland, that valid, celebrated, registered marriage was transformed into a weightless document. It is from this discrepancy between member states that the Court of Justice of the European Union was called to interveneestablishing a principle destined to impact the political debate of many countries: if two citizens of the Union, even of the same sex, get legally married in a member state, that marriage must be recognized everywhere in the EU.
The EU Court: marriages (even gay ones) remain marriages even across the border
The Luxembourg Court was clear: if a same-sex couple legally marries in a European Union statethat marriage must also be recognized by the Member State to which the couple decides to reside or return. Don’t recognize itthe judges explain, it means violating one of the pillars of the EUfreedom of movement, as well as the right to a protected private and family life.
Rights must not be lost when moving from one state to another
The Union, in fact, it allows its citizens to move, work, build a family in another country. Ignoring the marriage contracted elsewhere precisely prevents this continuation, without interruptions and uncertainties, of the life that has been built. It is a principle that does not cancel the autonomy of individual states in the regulation of marriagebut remember that no national competence can infringe European guarantees. If a family “exists” in an EU country, it must continue to exist even after crossing the border.
The EU Court rules: gay marriages celebrated abroad must be recognized everywhere (Getty Images)
Italy and the long shadow of non-egalitarian marriage
In our country this ruling comes as a strong signal, but not an immediately decisive one. Italy, just like Poland, does not currently provide for same-sex marriage. Yet the context is profoundly different: if Warsaw does not even recognize civil unions, since 2016 Rome has guaranteed at least this legal form which assigns most of the rights of civil marriage to the couple. For this reason, when two people of the same sex get married abroad and return to Italy, their certificate does not remain suspended in the void: is registered as a civil union.
From marriage to civil union: it’s not quite the same thing
In the language of bureaucracy it is a “technical” solution, but in the life of families, it means however seeing a marriage transformed into an institution with a different name and with clear limitsespecially on the children’s front. In fact, in Italy there is no possibility of joint adoption for homosexual couples; and even where there is already a child, the process of stepchild adoption, the adoption of the partner’s child, remains complex and not always guaranteed in the same way on the national territory.
The changing Europe (and the one missing)
Looking beyond our borders, European photography shows a consolidated trend. Most of the countries of the Unionfrom France to the Netherlands, from Germany to Spain, up to smaller nations such as Malta or Luxembourg, recognizes equal marriage. Even Andorra and small Alpine states like Liechtenstein have introduced inclusive laws. In this panorama, Italy increasingly appears as a Western exception. Not as backward as Poland, where LGBTQ+ people have no protection, but still distant from the legislative models of the countries with which we share exchanges, work, travel and even life plans every day. And that’s right this distance that the EU Court ruling puts once again under the spotlight: if Europe recognizes families everywhere, why shouldn’t Italy do so too?
Gay marriages, a mirror to understand who we want to be
The EU ruling, therefore, does not require Italy to immediately change its laws, but it nevertheless establishes a principle that will have direct effects on the lives of couples who move to Europe. Now states must guarantee legal continuity to marriages celebrated elsewhere, and this it also forces Italy to review how it manages documents coming from other EU countries. It is certainly not a point of arrival, but it is certainly an important step that makes it more difficult to postpone now inevitable legislative decisions.