D'Alema says no to gay marriage

MILAN At the Festa dell'Unità in Ostia on September 9, D'Alema claimed the "reasonable compromise" reached by the Prodi government with civil unions, but he declared himself opposed to gay marriage. The video of the celebration was reposted yesterday on YouTube: "Marriage, as provided for by the Constitution, D'Alema said, is the union between a man and a woman, for the purpose of procreation. Serious homosexual organizations have never claimed to want to marry in church, but have asked for rights such as inheritance and welfare to be recognized. For a significant portion of this country, marriage is a sacrament." Arcigay reacted harshly: "These statements are so crude they are unbelievable." Paola Concia, a lesbian parliamentarian, was also clear: "Nonsense from the PCI." Yesterday, the former prime minister recited the mea culpaI apologize if there were crude references to the constitutional text and if I created a misunderstanding: I never meant to say that the Constitution prohibits gay marriage, which, incidentally, doesn't offend my sensibilities in the least. The Democratic Party is developing a proposal to expand their rights, and it's not right for me to bombard them from the outside while they're debating it. We're the only Italian party doing so. And we're a complex party.