Italian same-sex parenting in times of COVID-19: Constructing parenthood on insecure grounds

Abstract

Objective: This article focuses on the challenges same-sex-parent families in Italy have faced in the context of the COVID-19 crisis. Background: It is universally acknowledged that Italy was the first victim of the novel coronavirus in Europe. Due to the hazards caused by the pandemic, the Italian government implemented a series of countermeasures to help families, resolving the increasingly irreconcilable conflicts between work and childcare, providing financing to the most poverty-stricken families. However, some initiatives have made it clear that in Italy, not all people have received equal benefits. Method: To further investigate and bring awareness to the issue of the vulnerability of Italian same-sex-parent families in times of COVID-19, 40 in-depth interviews were conducted online between March and June 2020 to collect data on attitudes, opinions, and behaviors at the individual level. Results: Italian homosexual fathers and mothers, due to a still uncertain regulatory framework, have been invisible in the face of a bureaucracy remaining deeply rooted in a rigid and obsolete vision of the social reality. Conclusion: Italy should take into account a possible redefinition of family both at the political and institutional levels. The concept of family is expected to be broader and closer to social reality, encompassing all the possible patterns of family that constitute a real supportive network for all people, in full respect of people's equal dignity and self-determination. Implications: A redefinition of what it means to be a family is necessary not only in the acquisition of citizenship and welfare rights of homosexual people, but above all for the protection of the rights and interests of children who grow up in same-sex-parented families.