The Italian Senate has given final approval to legislation requiring schools to obtain written parental consent before delivering any sex or relationship education. The vote has divided the country along sharply ideological lines.
Italy’s Senate on Thursday gave final approval to the law requiring schools to obtain written parental consent before delivering any sex or relationship education to pupils, in a vote that passed with 78 votes in favour and 38 against. The legislation, known as the Valditara Bill after Education Minister Giuseppe Valditara, had previously cleared the lower house last December.
Under the new law, secondary schools must secure informed written consent from parents, or from students themselves if they are over eighteen, before proceeding with any activities or projects relating to sexuality or emotional relationships. In primary and nursery schools, such content is banned outright.
Valditara: protecting children not restricting education
Hailing the vote as a historic reform, Valditara said the law would protect children from what he called “gender propaganda”. It would also restore to parents their constitutional right to guide their children’s upbringing. He moved to rebut what he described as deliberate misrepresentations of the legislation’s scope.
“It is not true that this law will prevent emotional education,” he said. “For the first time, the government has made education in respect, relationships, and empathy mandatory across all school levels.” He added that biological sex education would continue within science curricula. He also announced that teaching on the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases would be introduced into middle school programmes for the first time.
The government argued that the law formalises parental consent as a safeguard, ensuring families are involved in decisions about sensitive educational content. Valditara also stipulated that any such teaching must be delivered by qualified professionals — doctors, psychologists, and academics — rather than by advocacy organisations.
Opposition: a step back for the country
Opposition parties were scathing. Senator Simona Malpezzi of the centre-left Partito Democratico described the law as undermining the autonomy of schools, accusing the government of telling parents to distrust their children’s teachers. Senator Barbara Floridia of the Movimento 5 Stelle said the measure “set a dangerous precedent” and amounted to a step backwards for the country, calling it “a manifesto of fear of freedom and diversity.”
The opposition’s broader argument is that the law undermines efforts to combat rape, gender-based violence and femicide by erecting barriers to the kind of consent education that might help young people develop healthier attitudes towards relationships. The children’s charity Save the Children also raised concerns.
The controversy reflects a wider cultural clash over how society balances tradition, parental authority, and modern approaches to gender and sexual health. This has sharpened considerably in Italy in recent years, amid a continuing national debate over femicide and gender-based violence. Critics of the legislation argue there is a fundamental contradiction in a government that has toughened penalties for violence against women while simultaneously making it harder to teach young people about consent and healthy relationships.
