LGBTQ rights in Italy

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) rights in Italy significantly advanced in the 21st century, thanks to both legislation and Constitutional Court and Supreme Court of Cassation rulings, although LGBTQ people still face various challenges not experienced by non-LGBT residents, despite public opinion being increasingly liberal and in favor of LGBT rights. Both male and female same-sex sexual activity has been legal since 1890, when a new penal code was promulgated. A civil union law was passed in May 2016, providing same-sex couples with all of the rights of marriage except for joint adoption rights. The law also recognizes same-sex couples as a family. Stepchild adoption was excluded from the bill, but in June 2016 the Supreme Court of Cassation stated that courts can allow a couple in a civil union to adopt their stepchildren. The same law provides both same-sex and heterosexual couples which live in an unregistered cohabitation with several legal rights.In May 2025, the Constitutional Court ruled that when a lesbian couple has a child through IVF abroad, both women can be automatically registered as the child's mothers, without having to go through stepchild adoption. In April 2025, the Supreme Court ruled that children with same-sex parents must have gender-neutral terms on their ID documents instead of “mother” and “father.” This change ensures that documents reflect the child's actual family structure and effectively removes a discriminatory rule. In July 2025, the Constitutional Court ruled that the non-biological mother in a lesbian couple is entitled to mandatory parental leave.

However, according to ILGA-Europe's 2021 report, the status of LGBT rights in Italy is below the standards of other Western European countries – such as still not recognizing same-sex marriage, lacking nationwide discrimination protections for goods and services, as well as not granting to same-sex couples full parental rights, such as joint adoption and IVF. Italy and Japan are the only G7 nations where same-sex marriages are not recognized.

Transgender people have been allowed to legally change their gender since 1982. Italy became the sixth country in the world to legally acknowledge the right of individuals to change their gender. Prior to this, only Denmark (1929), Sweden (1972), Chile (1974), Norway (1979), and West Germany (1980) had introduced similar legal recognition. The proposal for this legal reform faced little opposition: both chambers of the Italian Parliament unanimously agreed to assign the responsibility of finalising the law to their respective Standing Committees on Justice. As a result, once the Committees approved the draft, the law was enacted immediately, bypassing the need for additional votes in Parliament. Since 2015, undergoing surgery (sterilization) is no longer required in order to change one's legal gender in Italy. In 2020, hormone therapy became fully covered by the national healthcare system, making it accessible free of charge. More recently, in 2024, judicial authorisation is no longer necessary to access gender-affirming surgeries, as long as legal sex change has occurred, further reducing legal and bureaucratic barriers for transgender individuals seeking medical transition.

Although discrimination regarding sexual orientation in employment has been banned since 2003, no other anti-discrimination laws regarding sexual orientation or gender identity and expression have been enacted nationwide, although some Italian regions have enacted far more comprehensive anti-discrimination laws.

A 2025 Ipsos poll shows that 80% of Italians support legal recognition of same-sex unions. Meanwhile, an Eurispes survey reveals that 66.8% back same-sex marriage, and 63% support adoption by same-sex couples.[1]

According to the Eurispes Italy Report 2024, 64.5% of Italians support marriage equality, representing an increase of nearly 20 percentage points over eight years. Support for same-sex marriage has steadily risen from 47.8% in 2016 to 50.9% in 2019, 58.4% in 2021, 59.2% in 2023, and 64.5% in 2024. Additionally, 69.3% of Italians favor legal protection for unmarried couples regardless of sex. While heterologous fertilization is widely supported as a medical practice (60%), support is lower for surrogacy (37.1%) and for the use of artificial wombs (39.9%). Adoption by same-sex couples is approved by 54.5% of Italians, an increase of 23.4 percentage points compared to 2019, while adoption by single individuals receives higher approval at 61.5%. The legal recognition of children of same-sex couples, including adoption of a partner's child and recognition of children born abroad through heterologous fertilization or surrogacy, is supported by 58.4% of Italians.