The Council of State, Italy's top administrative court, on Thursday ruled that prefects' decrees in 2014 that annulled the registrations of thirteen gay marriages contracted abroad were "illegitimate". The marriages had been registered by the mayors of Milan and Udine. In a statement, the Council of State said it accepted the appeals filed by those affected by the annulments and by the City of Milan.
Earlier this year the Italian parliament passed a law regulating civil unions, including those between same-sex couples.
The law extends to committed gay couples some of the same rights and protections currently enjoyed by heterosexual married couples, such as the right to receive a deceased partners' pension, but stops short of legalising gay marriage.
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