A gay man has been awarded $30,000 in damages after the Italian Government refused to let him move to the country with his Italian partner. The European Court of Human Rights has stated that Italy’s refusal to grant Douglas McCall a residence permit violated he and his partners rights under the European Convention on Human Rights. The Strasbourg court held that to deny same-sex couples residence permits on ‘family grounds’ was discrimination. A 13 year battle, McCall applied for a de facto visa in 2004 after he had spent a year studying in Italy. He was granted the visa by a local court in Florence but the Italian Government appealed this decision. It became illegal for the couple to live together in Italy and they moved to the Netherlands where McCall was granted a residence permit as a partner of an EU citizen. “This case is a perfect example of the every-day struggles that same-sex couples can still face across Europe – the couple originally moved back to Italy because one of them was in ill health. Having to go through a worrying personal time is hard enough, but these types of difficulties can be compounded for same-sex couples when they encounter additional discriminatory obstacles. ” says ILGA-Europe’s Executive Director Evelyne Paradis. “ILGA-Europe welcome the ECtHR’s decision as another confirmation from the Court that discrimination against same-sex couples based on their sexual orientation cannot be tolerated.” Same-sex marriage and civil unions are not legal in Italy.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Friday, 1st July 2016 - 1:51pm