The majority of Italians are in favour of legal recognition for unwed couples, the president of Italian gay rights group Arcigay, Aurelio Mancuso, said Friday.
Referring to a 2009 report from think tank Eurispes, Mancuso said 58.9% of Italians are in favour of civil unions for everyone, while 52.5% consider homosexuality a form of love like any other.
Just over 40% said gay and lesbian couples should have the right to marry.
''The majority of Italians want recognition for all unions and believe that love is universal and don't discriminate between types and orientations,'' Mancuso said.
''Italians are already ready to be equal with the rest of Europe, our shame is that we have a political class incapable of translating this lack of legislature and recognising millions of lesbian and gay unions publicly and juridically,'' Mancuso said.
He appealed to the ''silent majority'' of Italians who supported rights for civil partnerships to participate in Italy's Gay Pride demonstration, due to take place in Genoa on June 27.
Cohabiting homosexual and heterosexual couples in Italy are currently unable to obtain financial and 'next of kin' rights if their loved one dies, is seriously ill or is sent to prison.
Such couples currently have no shared rights to social benefits, property and inheritance - a situation which critics say is increasingly anomalous in a European state.
The former centre-left government attempted to pass new laws to give couples these rights but failed to get them through parliament in the face of fierce opposition from centre-right politicians and the Catholic Church.
