The vice president of Italy's Senate
launched an attack against Sir Elton John over his use of surrogate
mothers to carry his children.
John and his husband, filmmaker David
Furnish, have two sons, Zachary, 5, and Elijah, 3. The boys were
born with the use of a surrogate mother.
The issue of surrogacy, which is banned
in Italy for all couples, has taken center stage as lawmakers prepare
to debate a gay-inclusive civil unions bill.
(Related: Thousands
rally in support of civil unions for gay couples in Italy.)
“With wombs for rent it's easy to
arrive at eugenics and Nazism,” Senator Maurizio Gasparri told
Radio 24 on Sunday.
“What he did was the selfishness of a
rich, arrogant man who exploited other people's desperation,” he
added.
Earlier in the month, Angelino Alfano,
Italy's interior minister, described surrogacy as a “sex crime.”
A controversial amendment to the
proposed civil unions bill sought to impose steep penalties against
gay couples who could not prove they did not use a surrogate.