The Italian Senate in February approved the much-discussed and anticipated civil unions bill. Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi then called a confidence vote in order to speed up the passage of the bill, which has now finally been approved (with 369 voting in favor and 193 against). The bill itself has many flaws — most significantly, it does not allow stepchild adoption — but this is nevertheless a huge step forward for Italy, which up until now was the only European country without any legal recognition for same-sex couples.