Italy: Party attacked for ‘no to gay adoption’ photo

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An Italian photographer has criticized a far-right group for using one of his photographs for an anti-gay campaign.

The Brothers of Italy party, which has 9 MPs in Italy’s Chamber of Deputies, published a photo of two same-sex couples holding a baby to Twitter last week with the caption “A baby is not a whim – no adoption for the gays”.

However, Oliviero Toscani, who took the original photo for a pro-gay rights campaign, claims the group did not have his permission to reuse the image for a homophobic message.

According to the Local, he said: “Why would you use one of my pictures for such a thing?

“The photo was used in the opposite way.

“They were editorial photos to explain the various possibilities of a family for a French newspaper. They instead used them in an ignorant way.”

A party spokesperson apologised for the incident, saying: “We apologize for what happened because we respect the author’s copyright.”

Last week, a lesbian couple in Italy became the first to be allowed to adopt a child by a court.

Italy is home to a large Catholic population, and lags behind other European countries on LGBT rights, with gay couples having no legal recognition, rights to adopt, and limited protection from discrimination.

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