As a result of the ruling, the couple now has more parental rights and legal protection.

The Democratic Party of Italy plans to put forward another bill to give gay and unmarried couples - and single people - the same rights.

An Italian lesbian couple has submitted a request to the Rome family court concerning the adoption of each other’s daughters.

They made their application under an existing law that considers the right of a child to "ongoing affection" as the basis for granting adoption requests. On March 2, an Italian court ruled in their favor and announced its revolutionary decision.

A giant step for gay parents

The judgment of the court has put the couple’s children into a positive situation, which also means for the parents wider marital capacity and responsibility.

As Francesca Quarato, the couple’s lawyer, said: "Each of these two little girls has a biological parent and a social parent who share parental responsibility fully and equally."

As a result, the couple now has more parental rights and legal protection, however they still do not have the same legal status as heterosexual parents would have in case of adoption. Unfortunately, the daughters are still not recognized as sisters.

This case may be considered as a landmark for LGBT rights in Italy, mainly after the passage of the last week’s diluted Italian civil unions bill, from which the stepchild adoption clause has been stripped out.

More to come

But Italy’s expansive legal system makes it difficult to state that the court has set a precedent and from this time on such adoptions will be generally accepted.

As a solution for the parental inequality of gay people, the Democratic Party of Italy is now determined to put forward a separate bill that would give gay and unmarried couples - and single people - the same rights as married couples when it comes to adoption.