(ANSA) - ROME, MAR 18 - Italy's LGBTQ+ community led a big rally in Milan on Saturday to defend the rights of same-sex-parent families.
    The protest was organized after the northern city was forced to stop a procedure it had used to register both members of a same-sex couple as the parents of a child after the prefect's department warned it was illegal following consultations with the interior ministry.
    The procedure was based on the transcription into the Milan civil register of foreign birth certificates of children conceived by surrogacy, which is illegal in Italy, or assisted fertility, which is only allowed for heterosexual couples here.
    Milan Mayor Giuseppe Sala said the suspension of the transcriptions was a "step backwards" while adding that he had no alternative as he could not expose council employees to the risk of facing criminal charges for registering these birth certificates.
    The mayor said he would stage a "political battle" to rectify the situation, saying Italy should have a specific law allowing both members of same-sex couples to be recognized as the parents of a child.
    Elly Schlein, the newly elected leader of the opposition, centre-left Democratic Party (PD), was among the figures taking part in Saturday's rally.
    Earlier this week the ruling centre-right majority was decisive as a Senate committee voted to reject an EU plan for the rights of same-sex parents to be recognized throughout the bloc.
    (ANSA).