AFP Athens
Athens
Updated Thursday, February 15, 2024-23:22
The Greek Parliament
approved
this Thursday
gay marriage
and the adoption of minors by same-sex couples, a measure promoted by the conservative Government despite
the frontal opposition of the influential Orthodox Church.
With 176 votes in favor, 76 against and 2 abstentions,
the reform was easily approved,
thanks to the votes of several opposition parties, since a part of the 158 deputies of the government party, the conservative New Democracy (ND), voted against, abstained or left the Chamber.
Greece thus becomes the 20th country in Europe and the first Orthodox Christian country to allow same-sex couples to marry.
The head of the conservative government,
Kyriakos Mitsotakis
, gave the legislators of his party freedom to vote after internal opposition from the most conservative wing to the measure.
Since 2015, Greece has recognized a civil union for same-sex couples, although without the same rights as heterosexual marriage.
The prime minister made the approval of equal marriage one of his key promises in the campaign in which he achieved a clear victory in June 2023, and has kept his word despite the strong opposition of the very influential Orthodox Church.
Mitsotakis has repeatedly asked the
Orthodox Church not to interfere in the affairs of the State
, and this Thursday he even evoked a biblical passage in the parliamentary debate: "To Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's."
The prime minister has been arguing that the reform makes it possible to put an end to numerous legal inconsistencies that affect many families, even though the reform has angered some of his voters.
With the new legislation, same-sex couples would have greater peace of mind by freeing themselves from the worry of losing custody of their children in some circumstances.
"Today is a day of joy and we are going to celebrate it properly,"
Lío Emanuilid
u, who six years ago had a son with his partner after an in vitro fertilization process, told Efe, but only she has rights over the child. , since for the Greek State it is of "unknown father".
Emanuilidu says that she has already made all the preparations and has set March 8 to get married, mainly so that
her partner can have custody of the child
and be free from the "enormous feeling of insecurity and fear" that if something were to happen to her her son loses "both of his mothers in one day."
This process, however, is expected to be "long and expensive," as he points out, since the law requires that the non-biological parent adopt the minor so that
his or her legal guardianship rights are recognized,
in the cases of lesbian couples who already They have children.
LGTBI rights associations have celebrated the "historic" approval of the law, but some of them criticize that surrogacy
for
homosexual couples has not been authorized.
The reform also leaves same-sex couples in limbo regarding access to assisted reproduction treatments,
Ekaterini Trimmi,
member of the National Committee for Human Rights and lawyer for the organization "Rainbow Families" of Greece, explains to Efe.
Although the text does not refer to this issue, "it is understood that lesbian couples will be able to access
assisted reproduction techniques"
to form a family, "in proportional application" of the legislation that exists for heterosexual couples, he tells Efe.
Lina Papadopulu,
professor of Law at the University of Thessaloniki and one of the drafters of the standard.