In a “historic” move, Greece has legalised gay marriage, becoming the first Christian Orthodox-majority country to do so.
A vote was held on Thursday (15 February) in Greece’s parliament resulting in a 176-76 majority for legalising gay marriage. Same-sex couples will also be able to adopt children as a result of the landmark bill which faced strong opposition from the country’s Orthodox church.
The head of the same-sex group Rainbow Families, Stella Belia, hailed the legislation as “a historic moment.” Belia added: “This is a day of joy,” as per the BBC. Meanwhile, Greece’s Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis celebrated that the law would “abolish a serious inequality”.
The Guardian reported Mitsotakis as also saying: “The reform that we are legislating today … will make the life of some of our fellow citizens that much better without – and I emphasise this – taking away anything from the lives of the many. We are covering a gap by allowing everyone, if they wish, to institutionally seal their relationship … just as heterosexual couples do.”
The former prime minister of Greece, Antonis Samaras, decried the legislation as “dangerous” and also stated that gay marriage was not a human right.
Opposition, led by the Orthodox church, saw protests take place in Athens’ Syntagma Square. Over the weekend, more than 1,500 protesters gathered according to Euronews.
A recent poll by the national newspaper Proto Thema found that only 55% of Greeks support the legalisation of gay marriage. An even slimmer majority in Greece backed gay adoption rights.
In legalising same-sex marriage, Greece has become only the south-eastern European country to do so. It joins 15 other EU member states and 35 nations worldwide.