Top Italian court rebuffs bids to register gay marriages, says only lawmakers can decide issue

Italian court rebuffs gay marriage bid

ROME — Italy’s constitutional court has rejected bids to have gay marriages recognized in two Italian cities.

Couples in the northern cities of Venice and Trento had sought to have their city halls ordered to post formal marriage announcements for homosexual unions, as they do for heterosexual marriages.

The court didn’t officially explain its ruling Wednesday, but Italian news reports said the judges maintained that it is up to lawmakers, not judges, to recognize gay marriage.

Lawmakers have proposed various kinds of legislation for some kind of gay union in recent years. But the measures have gone nowhere in the face of stiff opposition from the Vatican, which wields powerful influence in Italian politics. Church teaching holds that homosexual activity is sinful.