In
Orlandi and Others v. Italy, (ECHR, Dec. 14, 2017), the European Court of Human Rights in a Chamber Judgment, by a vote of 5-2, held that Italy violated the rights of same-sex couples by refusing to register their marriages. The Court summarized the decision on its
website as follows:
the Court has found a violation of the right to respect for private and family life. [Art. 8, European Convention on Human Rights.] In this case 6 homosexual couples complained that they had been unable to have their marriages, which had been entered into abroad, registered or recognised in Italy.
The Court observed in particular that States were free only to authorise heterosexual couples to marry, but that homosexual couples needed to be legally recognised and to ensure the protection of their relationship. It also noted that the situation in Italy had changed in 2016 with the enactment of new legislation on homosexual civil partnerships.
