Greece Legalizes Same-Sex Marriage in a first for an Orthodox Christian Country

The decision, supported by 176 out of 300 lawmakers in parliament and with 76 against, follows months of polarized political and public discourse, and has been welcomed as a long-awaited vindication by the country’s LGBTQ+ couples.

“This is a milestone for human rights, reflecting today’s Greece - a progressive, and democratic country, passionately committed to European values,” Greece’s Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said in a post on X following the vote.

Parental and children’s rights are a cornerstone of the legislation, which will allow same-sex couples to adopt and receive full parental recognition.

Although Greece introduced civil partnerships for gay couples nearly a decade ago under the left-wing Syriza government, only the biological parents of children in those relationships were recognized as legal guardians. Now, same-sex parents can both be recognized as legal parents to their children.

“The new law will finally provide same-sex parents some peace of mind on fundamental issues including parental rights to a surviving parent in the event of their partner’s death,” said Katerina Trimmi, a member of the Greek National Commission of Human Rights and a lawyer from the organization Rainbow Families. She noted however that such parents will need to go through formal adoption procedures, saying that parental rights could have been established “in a simpler way.”

Same-sex couples can now also adopt in Greece, but not have a baby through a surrogate. Like in much of the EU, surrogacy remains a thorny issue and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who tabled the legislation as “a matter of equality,” clarified early on that this was not something he was willing to tackle. “The idea of women who are turned into child-producing machines on demand … that is not going to happen.”

However the new legislation does recognize the status of existing offspring, including those adopted or born to surrogates abroad.

Outside Parliament in Athens on Thursdau, members of the LGBTQ+ community told CNN that they felt seen for the first time as lawmakers prepared to vote on the bill. Computer engineering student Sergio Berezovski, 20, described the vote as a “true historic moment,” adding that “I can actually go out, be myself and have the same rights as the rest of the people in society. I just feel seen – that’s the most important part.”

Divided society

The build-up to the vote has been an uphill battle with emotions running high. It was never going to be easy. In Greece the push came from a center-right party with many of its voters supporting traditional family values.

Fifteen of the European Union’s 27 members have already legalized same-sex marriage and Mitsotakis, empowered by a recent fresh mandate, stuck to his guns to see the bill through, signaling his intention for his government to be further aligned with the more progressive EU forces.

Polls show that Greek society at its core remains a country of traditional family values and structures, while it continues to lag other Western countries in issues of gender equality. In 2022, Athens placed last in the EU’s Gender Equality Index with only slight improvement in 2023.

A recent poll carried out by Metron Analysis showed that although 62% of respondents said they were in favor of same-sex marriage, 69% were against same-sex parenthood. Surveys directed exclusively at young respondents showed higher support rates.

The same-sex marriage bill has drawn the wrath of the influential Greek Orthodox Church to which more than 80% of the population belong.

In a letter addressed to all 300 of Greece’s parliamentarians ahead of the vote, the Church’s governing body said the bill places the rights of homosexual adults above the interests of future children, by allowing them “to be parented by same-sex couples and grow up without a father or mother in an environment of confusing gender roles.”

Source: CNN