By a large majority: Greece allows gay marriage

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The parliamentary presidency in Athens announced this late on Thursday evening. 176 members of the 300-seat parliament voted in favor of the corresponding law submitted by the conservative government led by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

In a rare cross-party consensus in Greece, left-wing as well as social democratic and conservative parliamentarians supported the motion. The 76 votes against also came from all parties. Mitsotakis had given MPs from his conservative ruling New Democracy (ND) party the freedom to vote according to their conscience. There were two abstentions. The parliamentary presidium said 46 MPs did not participate in the meeting.

Previously, there were sometimes heated discussions in parliament. Smaller ultra-conservative parties, which also represent religious fanatics as well as members of the ruling conservatives, said the law ignored the tradition of Greek society and the teachings of the Christian Orthodox Church. For his part, Mitsotakis explained: “In Greece, no one should feel like a second-class citizen. Today is a day of joy.”

Under the new law, homosexual married couples will have the same rights and obligations as heterosexual couples. You can adopt children. Both will have custody, even if the child is biologically born from one of the two partners. However, surrogate mothers should remain prohibited from bearing children for homosexual couples.

There had already been massive criticism from within the ranks of the Greek Orthodox Church. Some bishops threatened the representatives of their regions to “think carefully about what they decide to do.” The Orthodox Church is enshrined in the Greek Constitution as the dominant religion and has a strong influence on religiously oriented constituencies. After the law is passed, Greece will become the first predominantly Christian Orthodox country to allow same-sex civil marriages.

(SDA)

Source: Blick