The social and political background

A discussion about lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans (LGBT) issues in social work needs to take account both of the wider context, which has an impact on the lives of LGBT people and also of public debates, which construct social perceptions about them. In this sense, before focusing on LGBT issues in Italian social work, the rest of this section gives an overview of the current social and political context in Italy. Also, both the legislative and policy background and the development of the Italian LGBT movement are briefly addressed.

From a comparative perspective, Italy is often depicted as a conservative country, mainly due to the strong impact of a conservative religious commitment in Italian politics (Ginsborg, 2001; Giorgi, 2013) and due to its familialistic welfare tradition (Ferrera, 1996; Saraceno, 2003). With respect to the legal treatment of homosexuality, it is worth mentioning that the decriminalisation of homosexuality occurred in 1889 (a relatively early date in comparison with some other European countries) through the enactment of the Zanardelli Penal Code, which also introduced the concept of ‘equal age consent’ for heterosexual and homosexual activity (Dall’Orto, 1998). However, today, Italy is the only one among the founding countries of the European Union (EU), and one of 12 countries of today's EU 28, without any legal recognition of same-sex partnerships. Despite several legislative proposals for civil partnerships, for example the ‘PACS’ Bill in 2002 and the ‘DICO’ Bill in 2007, none of them has ever been accepted by the National Parliament. This complete lack of legal recognition has a variety of consequences on the level of legal benefits, obligations and responsibilities of same-sex partnerships. They are not recognised in taxation, pension and housing tenancy rights. A same-sex partner is not even recognised as next of kin in hospital, in inheritance or in immigration and asylum rights. For the Italian state, and thus for its social and family policies, same-sex partnerships do not exist.

However, there have been some recent signals that have brought about hope for some change. The 2011 national Census made it possible for the first time to indicate the status of a same-sex relationship.