Greece To Legalise Same-Sex Marriage, Adoption (image: unsplash/Tim Bieler)
In a historic judgement, Greece“s parliament on Thursday approved a bill allowing same-sex civil marriage and adoption even after facing opposition from the country”s powerful Orthodox Church. The law came forth as a result of decades-long campaigning by the LGBTQ community for marriage equality. Greece, thus, becomes one of the first Orthodox Christian countries to legalise such unions.
The bill was drafted by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis” center-right government and is supported by four left-wing parties, including the main opposition Syriza. The bill was assented by 176 lawmakers in the 300-seat parliament; 76 opposed the draft where 2 abstained from the vote and 46 were not present in the house.
According to the Reuters, the recent opinion polls reflect that Greeks are divided on the issue. When the powerful Orthodox Church believes homosexuality is a sin, and opposed the bill, many in the the LGBTQ community think that the bill does not go far enough.
Though the bill gives full parental rights on married same-sex partners with children, it exempts gay couples from parenthood through surrogate pregnancies. Many LGBTQ rights groups have criticised the limitation as well as the absence of any provision for transgender people.
As mentioned, the LGBTQ associations have been working for reform in this front for decades, despite facing opposition from the Church and right wing politicians. Some changes have been made in the past years; in 2015, same-sex civil unions has been legalised in Greece under the Syriza government. Though that law had settled property and inheritance issues, it made no provision for the adoption of children. Further, in 2017, Greece gavel legal validation to gender identity.
