Pride Festival in Gran Canaria/Photo: Amit Yadgar Editing: Ziv Steiner
The Greek Parliament last night (Thursday) approved a bill allowing same-sex couples to marry in the country - thus Greece became one of the first Christian-Orthodox countries to allow same-sex marriage.
The decision, passed by a majority of 176 MPs out of 300, was greeted with cheers by spectators in the legislature and many gathered in the streets of the capital Athens.
The bill caused controversy among the legislators, and did not even receive the support of the ruling party, "New Democracy", which is considered center-right, and its members abstained or voted against it.
However, the proposal was eventually approved through the support of the opposition parties.
"Marriage of same-sex couples is not a human right," declared Antonis Samaras, the former prime minister and a lawmaker from the "New Democracy".
Aliniki Lisi, who heads one of three far-right parties in parliament, called the bill "anti-Christian" and said it harmed national interests.
Public opinion in the conservative country is divided on the issue.
Many support the position of the Orthodox Church, which strongly opposes same-sex marriage, but supporters of the law believe that it is a first step on the way to full equality for the gay community in Greece.
LGBT in the third age/ShutterStock, ShutterStock
"This is a historic day," testified LGBT activists who celebrated the decision, and claimed that it will lead to a change in the "mindset" of Greek society: "We have to wait, but the laws will help with that." "
This is a very important step for human rights, a very important step for equality, and a very important step for Greek society."
The historic decision comes following the community's protest to regulate the status of same-sex couples in the law. In 2008, a couple of women and a couple of men got married on an island off the coast of Greece, but the validity of their marriage was later annulled by a supreme court.
The efforts This led to Greece allowing civil partnership between same-sex couples in 2015, and legal recognition of gender identity in 2017. Two years ago, it banned conversion treatments for minors aimed at "suppressing sexual orientation".
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