>> Rome mayor refuses to back down over gay marriages
Ignazio Marino, dont la décision a provoqué de vifs débats en Italie, avait enregistré ces mariages célébrés en Espagne en en Belgique en se fondant sur une décision judiciaire rendue en avril, qui reconnaissait les mariages homosexuels contractés à l’étranger.
«Quel danger pourrait représenter un couple amoureux?»
Le mariage homosexuel étant interdit en Italie, le ministre de l’Intérieur, Angelino Alfano du parti Nouveau centre droit, avait signé une circulaire adressée aux préfets leur demandant d’intervenir auprès des maires concernés qui devront supprimer des registres les mariages homosexuels.
Ignazio Marino a répondu qu’il «refuserait l’ordre» de la préfecture, car la loi italienne précise que les mariages célébrés à l’étranger «ne peuvent pas être enregistrés s’ils présentent des dangers pour l’ordre public». Or, a-t-il fait valoir, «je ne vois pas quel danger pourrait représenter un couple amoureux ayant officialisé cet amour».
>> Rome’s mayor refused Friday to back down in an increasingly heated dispute over his registering gay marriages celebrated abroad, in defiance of an order from the government to the delight of rights groups.
Left-wing mayor Ignazio Marino registered 16 gay marriages made in countries from Belgium to Spain two weeks ago following a landmark decision by a court in April to recognise a same-sex marriage contracted overseas.
Gay marriage in Italy remains illegal, however, and Interior Minister Angelino Alfano has ordered the prefecture of Rome to remove the gay unions from the city’s registry.
Marino said he would “not accept the order” from the prefecture, because the law says marriages celebrated abroad “should not be registered if such a registration would be dangerous for public order.”
“I honestly cannot understand what danger could be posed by a couple in love who have declared their love,” he said.
The mayor said refusing to register marriages celebrated abroad “would be an illegal and illegitimate act, against the principles of the European Union.”
Flavio Romani, head of Italy’s leading gay rights group, Arcigay, expressed esteem and support for Marino and slammed Prime Minister Matteo Renzi’s government, saying it was “clobbering Italians’ requests for rights.”
Rome is just one of several Italian cities which have gone over the head of the interior ministry to register gay marriages. Officials in Naples have said they will challenge Alfano’s directive in the courts.
AFP
