Greece's first gay weddings: Cursed' gay couples tie the knot
Pastor Dale Morgan
Greece's first gay weddings: Cursed' gay couples tie the knot*
From Renee Maltezou and George Hatzidakis in Athens
June 03, 2008 09:25pm
Article from: Reuters
Greece's first gay weddings have been held after two couples, abetted by
a sympathetic local mayor, defied the threat of criminal charges and the
wrath of the Orthodox church to tie the knot on a tiny Aegean island.
One gay and one lesbian couple took advantage of the failure of Greek
civil law to specify gender in matrimony to wed at the municipal offices
of the southeast Aegean island of Tilos.
A Greek Orthodox priest described their homosexuality as a curse and the
mayor of a neighbouring island said the sight of same-sex couples would
upset "good families" on their holidays.
But Evangelia Vlami, one of the newlyweds and spokeswoman for Greece's
Gay and Lesbian Community (OLKE) said she was "very moved and happy" to
tie the knot.
"I am proud to be the first Greek lesbian to get married," she said.
Details of both weddings were kept under wraps until all official
documentation was signed for fear the ceremonies would be disrupted.
The weddings were held only a few days after a senior Greek prosecutor
said the mayor of Tilos would face criminal charges if he officiated,
but the mayor, Tassos Aliferis, said he was determined to defend what he
saw as basic human rights.
The Justice Ministry said the marriages were illegal and all involved
would face charges.
"The law does not allow marriage between homosexuals," said a Justice
Ministry official, who requested anonymity.
"The case will go to court; the mayor of Tilos will face charges."
But OLKE said it hoped the weddings would help change attitudes towards
homosexuals in Greece, which has long preferred to turn a blind eye to
homosexuality rather than acknowledge gay rights.
"This is terrible," the mayor of the neighbouring island of Rhodes,
Hatzis Hatziefthimiou, told Ant1 TV. "We have good families coming here
for holidays, we can't have them coming to our beaches and seeing these
kind of couples."
While many European Union countries have established legislation
allowing gay marriage or "registered partnership" rights to same-sex
couples, neither are allowed in Greece.
The Netherlands was the first EU country to offer full civil marriage
rights to gay couples in 2001 and Belgium followed in 2003. Spain
legalised gay marriage in 2005, despite fierce opposition from the Roman
Catholic Church.
The weddings in Greece drew immediate fire from the Orthodox church,
which strongly opposes homosexuality.
"Homosexuality is a curse, a deadly sin, it goes against psychological
and biological normality," Father Stylianos Karpathiou told state NET TV.