Two gay Italian mayors are to
tie the knot in September under Italy's brand-new civil unions
law, sources said Thursday.
Giorgio Zinno, the mayor of the town of San Giorgio a
Cremano near Naples, is to marry his partner on September 24.
The civil unions law is named after its rapporteur, Senator
Monica Cirinnà, who will officiate at Zinno's ceremony.
Up north in the Lombardy village of Valgreghentino,
residents are preparing a feast for their 46-year-old Mayor
Sergio Brambilla and his long-time 33-year-old partner on
September 30.
The officiant at that ceremony will be Mayor Giovanni
Battista, from the nearby village of Olgiate Molgora.
"I've been receiving a lot of kind letters," said the
center-left mayor, who co-founded an LGBT organization called
Renzo and Lucio - the gay version of star-crossed lovers Renzo
and Lucia in Alessandro Manzoni's classic 1840 novel The
Betrothed, which was set in this part of Lombardy.
"(The civil unions law) is clearly a step forward, albeit
one that is a bit limiting," said Brambilla.
"There's still a lot of work to be done".
The civil unions bill became law on May 11, bringing Italy
up to speed in western Europe where it had been the only country
not to have either legalised gay marriage or recognised civil
unions between same-sex couples.
However the center-left government had to strap a measure
allowing gay and lesbian couples to adopt each other's children
to appease its Catholic and conservative allies.
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