The Greek parliament passed a law legalizing same-sex marriage making it the first majority Orthodox Christian country to establish marriage equality for all, CNN reported. The decision hailed as a \u2018landmark victory\u2019 for human rights in Greece, was supported by 176 out of 300 lawmakers in parliament while 76 voted against the change. This follows months of polarised political and public discourse. The change has been welcomed as a long-awaited vindication by the country\u2019s LGBTQ+ couples.<\/p>\n
Taking to X, Greece Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said, \u201cThis is a milestone for human rights, reflecting today\u2019s Greece \u2013 a progressive, and democratic country, passionately committed to European values.\u201d Andrea Gilbert a founding member of Athens Pride, now approaching its 20th year, said, \u201cWe started as an invisible, marginalized community. We continued to vote. Paid our taxes. Campaigned. The legislation provides a legal basis to further build on. It is particularly significant for young couples.\u201d<\/p>\n
Notably, parental and children\u2019s rights are a cornerstone of the legislation, which will allow same-sex couples to adopt and receive full parental recognition, according to CNN. 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe 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\u2019s death,\u201d 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 \u201cin a simpler way.\u201d<\/p>\n
Same-sex couples have also been granted adoption rights in Greece, but can\u2019t have a baby through surrogacy. Like in much of the European Union, surrogacy remains a thorny issue and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who tabled the legislation as \u201ca matter of equality,\u201d clarified early on that this was not something he was willing to tackle, CNN reported.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe idea of women who are turned into child-producing machines on demand\u2026that is not going to happen.\u201d However, the new legislation does recognize the status of existing offspring, including those adopted or born to surrogates abroad. The build-up to the vote has been an \u2018uphill battle\u2019 involving high emotions. It was never going to be easy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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