The Court of Appeals in Trento, Italy [official website, in Italian], ruled [press release, in Italian] Tuesday that the names of both same-sex partners should be listed on their child’s birth certificate. The court held [order, PDF, in Italian] that both fathers should have their names on the birth certificate even though only one person is the biological father. The court found that even though the child was born through surrogacy, both parents create a familial unit and should have equal rights to the child. The ruling is not only a landmark win for same-sex couples but for any parent who is not biologically related to their child as the court held genetics is not a dispositive factor in determining parental relationships.

Rights of same-sex partners continue to fluctuate worldwide. A Slovenian law allowing same-sex marriage took effect [JURIST report] Friday, but it does not provide adoption rights. The Parliament of Finland voted 120-48 [JURIST Report] in February to confirm a law allowing same-sex marriage. A judge for the US District Court for the District of South Carolina ruled [JURIST report] in February that the state must place the names of both same-sex parents on their children’s birth certificates. The North Dakota Senate in January rejected [JURIST report] a bill to update the definition of marriage to recognize same-sex marital relationships.