Greece’s parliament has legalised same-sex marriage, making Greece the first majority-Orthodox Christian state to recognise marriage equality. Decades of civil society campaigning came to fruition when a political window of opportunity suddenly opened. But amid bitter opposition from religious communities and leaders, and with public opinion evenly divided on the issue, LGBTQI+ activists still have a hard job ahead. They’ll need to defend progress against anti-rights backlash and turn a legal change into lasting social change that makes a difference to the daily lives of LGBTQI+ people.

After almost two decades of civil society campaigning, Greece’s parliament has passed a law enabling same-sex couples to marry and adopt children.

On 15 February, the 300-seat body approved, by a vote of 175 to 77, a bill amending family law to define marriage as the union of ‘two persons of the same or different sex’. This made Greece the first majority-Orthodox Christian country to realise marriage equality.

Equal marriage is now recognised in 36 countries, with Estonia last year becoming the first post-Soviet state to join the ranks. These notable firsts have however been accompanied by regression elsewhere, including in the country with the world’s biggest Orthodox Christian population, Russia.

SAMESEX MARRIAGE AROUND THE WORLD

A long campaign

Debate on the rights of same-sex couples in Greece dates back as far as 2006. At the time, marriage was still a distant dream. Only four countries recognised marriage equality, and activists’ immediate goal was legal recognition of same-sex cohabitation or civil partnerships.

Some of the organisations that would play key roles had just been established. The Lesbian and Gay Community of Greece (OLKE), for instance, was founded in 2004.

In 2006 and again in 2008, the centre-left PASOK opposition party submitted bills to recognise unmarried couples, including same-sex ones. These initiatives weren’t particularly progressive: they weren’t framed around LGBTQI+ rights, didn’t view same-sex couples as families and didn’t address adoption rights. Neither bill made it through parliament, and a cohabitation law was passed that didn’t include same-sex couples.

In 2008, LGBTQI+ rights activists exploited a loophole in a law that didn’t specify that marriage must involve a man and a woman. Despite instant backlash and legal threats, in a brave act of defiance the mayor of the island of Tilos, a gay tourist destination, held a civil wedding ceremony for two same-sex couples. Courts soon annulled the weddings, but they helped put the issue on the agenda.

In the run-up to the 2009 election, OLKE sent candidates a questionnaire on LGBTQI+ rights. PASOK, which won the election, said it supported same-sex registered partnerships. But in office it dragged its heels. In 2010, the government formed a committee to discuss the issue, but repeatedly delayed submitting a bill.

LGBTQI+ activists took to regional and international human rights systems. They submitted shadow reports to the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council’s review of Greece’s human rights record. In 2009, four gay couples brought two cases to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), stating that the restriction of civil unions to heterosexual couples infringed their right to respect for their private and family life and amounted to unjustified discrimination.

In November 2013, the ECHR ruled that there was indeed discrimination, ordering the state to provide compensation. Within days, the PASOK-led government announced it would introduce a bill to extend civil unions to same-sex couples.

But time dragged. A year on, the government again announced it was considering the change, but soon after, parliament was dissolved and snap elections were called for early 2015. Amid public anger at economic austerity measures imposed in response to Greece’s debt crisis, left-wing party Syriza came to power.

Progressive change

The pace quickened under the Syriza-led government. Within a year, a committee analysed the situation of LGBTQI+ couples, a bill was drafted and public consultations were held. After a long and contentious December 2015 parliamentary debate, same-sex couples gained civil partnership rights. They still weren’t able to adopt or exercise parental rights over their non-biological children, but activists viewed the change as a vital first step. A year on, parliament further amended the law to extend some of the same rights as marriage, including labour rights.

LGBTQI+ rights activists made more gains during Syriza’s four years in power. In 2017, parliament passed a gender identity law enabling people to change gender on official documents without undergoing any medical procedure and allowing trans people to affirm their gender from 15 years onwards. Almost the entire political opposition voted against, with Kyriakos Mitsotakis, leader of the centre-right New Democracy party and current prime minister, backtracking on his support. Transgender activists celebrated the vote with a giant banner reading ‘transgender rights are human rights’.

In 2022, parliament passed a law banning conversion therapies for minors. UN experts view these pseudoscientific practices aimed at changing people’s sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression as akin to torture, and LGBTQI+ activists have long campaigned for their prohibition. While welcoming the ban, Greek activists warned that the law contained loopholes that could allow a variety of faith-based interventions, such as those the Greek Orthodox Church promotes.

Political calculations

In June 2019, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras promised his government would legalise same-sex marriage if it won the upcoming election. But he was defeated by New Democracy, a party promoting what it characterised as traditional family values. Syriza still submitted a legalisation bill to parliament, but it was shelved. Syriza renewed its promise ahead of the 2023 election, but again New Democracy won.

In a surprise move, an unlikely champion introduced a new same-sex marriage bill in January 2024: Prime Minister Mitsotakis, having consolidated his hold over the political right, now sought to make inroads into socially progressive territory. Some speculated he was trying to promote himself as a moderniser to boost future job prospects in Brussels.

On 15 February, several prominent New Democracy parliamentarians abstained or voted against the bill but opposition parties on the left backed it, with Syriza lawmakers overwhelmingly voting for. LGBTQI+ groups rallied outside parliament as the vote proceeded, carrying a banner that read ‘Not a step back from real equality’.

Voices from the frontline

Giorgos Keratsas is Communications Officer of Positive Voice-Greek Association of People Living with HIV, a civil society organisation focused on tackling the spread of HIV/AIDS, defending the rights of HIV-positive people and more advocating for LGBTQI+ rights in Greece.

 

Greek LGBTQI+ groups have advocated for marriage equality and the legal recognition of all families for many years. In 2015, civil partnership arrangements were made available to same-sex couples. This marked a historic victory for LGBTQI+ and human rights in Greece but left a large part of the LGBTQI+ community unsatisfied, because there were several important issues the new law didn’t cover, including adoption rights. As a result, LGBTQI+ activism has continued to demand true equality in all laws and regulations concerning interpersonal relations.

Our main argument concerns the discriminatory character of laws that exclude LGBTQI+ people, same-sex couples and diverse families from access to the rights afforded to cisgender straight people and heterosexual families. The fact that citizens don’t have the same rights and obligations is proof we are not truly equal, and a state cannot be considered fully democratic when it has first-class and second-class citizens.

LGBTQI+ organisations have therefore urged legal change, pointing to the example of so many European countries that have recognised marriage equality. The road hasn’t been easy. It involved a lot of struggle, disappointments and persistence. We fought for many years until the change we demanded – initially viewed as impossible, and therefore ignored – was eventually deemed necessary. The passage of this law was a civil society victory that proves, once again, that when we take action together change can happen.

 

This is an edited extract of our conversation with Giorgos. Read the full interview here.

The religious factor

But powerful forces still oppose equality. According to a 2018 survey, Greece is Europe’s fourth most religious country. Around half of adults consider themselves ‘highly religious’ and 59 per cent say they believe in God with ‘absolute certainty’.

Up to 98 per cent identify as Greek Orthodox Christians. For many, belonging to the church goes beyond religion – it’s bound up in Greek identity. In 2018, the church successfully resisted a proposal to reform the constitution, which defines Christian Orthodoxy as Greece’s prevailing religion, to make the state religiously neutral.

The church has fiercely resisted every victory claimed by the women’s and LGBTQI+ rights movements, from divorce and abortion to civil partnerships and same-sex marriage. It’s been particularly belligerent towards the gender identity law. Church authorities condemned it as ‘a satanic deed’ and shared the same conspiracy theories as far-right groups.

The debate on same-sex marriage was also deeply polarising, with public opinion evenly divided. On the eve of the parliamentary vote, thousands took to the streets of Athens in a rally organised by Orthodox groups. Parliamentary debates saw a barrage of abusive language and hate speech. Far-right politicians claimed the bill was ‘anti-Christian’ and against national values and warned it would enable paedophiles. Church representatives insisted that homosexuality was a ‘mortal sin’. The church’s position was that the bill would sweep away traditional family roles. Priests used their sermons to urge lawmakers to change their position, threatening excommunication. Disinformation was rife, with one bishop going as far as claiming that gay sex causes cancer.

What – and where – next

The new law is some distance ahead of prevailing public attitudes. Greece now ranks 36 out of 197 countries on Equaldex’s Equality Index, which rates countries according to their LGBTQI+-friendliness. But its placing on the legal rights part of the index is much higher than its public opinion score.

Public attitudes have started to shift, but there’s a long way to go. There’s growing acceptance of same-sex relations and people are less concerned about the idea of having LGBTQI+ people as neighbours, but most people still have negative views about LGBTQI+ people being parents. A sizeable minority still sees homosexuality as unacceptable.

Activists will need to do much more work to shift public opinions to prevent regression and keep moving forward, including on issues such as surrogacy, among other ways of having children, which the new law still limits. But activists are optimistic this latest victory will help further normalise the presence of LGBTQI+ people and bring greater acceptance of diversity.

It matters too outside Greece, which is ahead of the curve among Orthodox-majority states – and could offer an example to follow.

Fourteen countries have Christian Orthodox majorities, all apart from Eritrea in Europe. Around three quarters of Orthodox Christians live in Central and Eastern Europe, including Greece and the Balkans, and almost 40 per cent – 101 million in 2010 – live in Russia.

According to Equaldex, Belarus, Russia and Moldova are the Orthodox-majority countries with the most hostile environments for LGBTQI+ people. Belarus and Russia have closed civic space, making it next to impossible to advocate for rights, and Russia has further intensified its repression of LGBTQI+ people in its construction of a national identity that serves its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

But Moldova, and several other of Greece’s Orthodox-majority neighbours – Bulgaria, Montenegro and Romania – have relatively enabling civic space and active LGBTQI+ movements seeking change.

Last year, Bulgarian and Romanian campaigners won ECHR rulings that their states violate European human rights law for failing to recognise the rights of same-sex couples. They’re continuing to push for laws to comply with the rulings. Moldova, once described as one of the most homophobic countries in Europe, recently included sexual orientation and gender identity in legislation covering employment, education, health, provision of goods and services, hate crime and hate speech. Montenegro, having hosted its first-ever Pride march as recently as 2014, recognised same-sex civil unions in 2020.

Activists in Greece will keep pushing for social change to match legal progress. And activists in neighbouring states will keep campaigning, knowing that sustained advocacy can pay off even in hostile contexts. They’ll continue trying to push open political windows of opportunity so decades-desired change can finally materialise.

OUR CALLS FOR ACTION

  • Greek LGBTQI+ groups should continue to work to win over public opinion and advocate for stronger protections for LGBTQI+ rights.
  • Greek LGBTQI+ groups and broader civil society should keep up their campaigns of public engagement to resist anti-rights backlash.
  • Greek civil society should support campaigns to recognise same-sex marriage in neighbouring Orthodox-majority states.

Cover photo by Louisa Gouliamaki/Reuters via Gallo Images