Ignazio Marino, the mayor of Rome, on
Saturday announced he would back plans for a civil union registry and
the registration of gay couples' foreign marriages.
According to the blog Agere
per Formulas, Marino made his announcement moments before the
start of Rome's Gay Pride Parade, which is celebrating its 20th
anniversary this year.
The news comes after Fano late last
month became the first Italian town to register the marriage of a gay
couple without a court order and Luigi De Magistris, the mayor of
Naples, signaled his willingness to register the foreign marriages of
gay couples.
While creation of a civil union
registry requires the approval of the Rome City Council, it's
believed that sufficient support exists on the 49-member council.
Marino, a prominent transplant surgeon
who was elected mayor of Rome last June, grabbed headlines in
announcing his support for marriage equality.
“By training I am a surgeon. I see
either black or white,” Marino
said last year during a HuffPost Live interview. “A few weeks
ago a lot of people were surprised, because they asked me the same
question. And what I answer is, 'Look I believe that if a couple
loves each other, they should get married.' I don't see where the
problem is.”