The Italian Parliament has approved a law recognizing civil unions for same-sex couples. The law falls short of legalizing same-sex marriages, and it will not allow people in same-sex civil unions to legally adopt their partner’s biological children. Aurelio Mancuso, president of Equality Italy, heralded the move.

Aurelio Mancuso: “Today is an historic day, historic like the historic days we had on divorce, on abortion, on family rights. Today, Italy will see a real change, civil rights will take a huge step forward. Our next objective is equal marriage rights. But today we are obviously satisfied.”