An Italian court has ordered cities to stop recognising the existing overseas marriages of same-sex couples. Italy has poor provisions for LGBT people party due to the strong influence of the Catholic Church, with no country-wide recognition of same-sex couples at present.

Over the past year a number of Mayors and city officials – including the Mayor of Rome – have officially recognised the weddings of gay and lesbian couples overseas, despite threats from the government not to do so.

However, they will now be compelled to stop doing so, and to strip existing same-sex spouses of their legal rights, after Italian Interior Minister Angelino Alfano took the issue to the Council of State, Italy’s highest administrative court. Read more via Pink News