Greece first Orthodox Christian country to legalize same-sex civil marriage
ATHENS, GREECE >> Greece has become the first Orthodox Christian country to legalize same-sex civil marriage, despite opposition from Church officials.
A cross-party majority of 176 lawmakers in the 300seat parliament voted late Thursday in favor of the bill drafted by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis' center-right government. Seventy-six rejected the reform while two abstained from the vote and 46 were not present.
The new law recognizes parental rights for same-sex couples, but will not allow gay men to acquire biological children through surrogate mothers in Greece.
Opinion polls have suggested that most Greeks support the reform by a narrow margin. The issue has failed to trigger deep divisions in a country more worried about the high cost of living.
The landmark bill drafted by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis' center-right government was backed by four left-wing parties, including the main opposition Syriza. Three small far-right parties and the Stalinist-rooted Communist Party rejected the draft law.
Supporters, waving rainbow banners, and opponents of the bill, holding religious icons and praying, held separate small, peaceful gatherings outside parliament Thursday.
“People who have been invisible will finally be made visible around us. And with them, many children (will) finally find their rightful place,” Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis told lawmakers ahead of the evening vote.
“Both parents of samesex couples do not yet have the same legal opportunities to provide their children with what they need,” he added. “To be able to pick them up from school, to be able to travel, to go to the doctor, or take them to the hospital . ... That is what we are fixing.”
The bill would confer full parental rights on married same-sex partners with children. But it precludes gay couples from parenthood through surrogate mothers in Greece — an option currently available to women who can't have children for health reasons.
Maria Syrengela, a lawmaker from the governing New Democracy, or ND, said the reform redresses a long-standing injustice for same-sex couples and their children.
“And let's reflect on what these people have been through, spending so many years in the shadows, entangled in bureaucratic procedures,” she said.