The rights of the gay community in Greece

It may seem strange but the fact is that gay right's issues scarcely surface in domestic politics. The recent "scandal" over the gay marriages on the island of Tilos, caused a national uproar. Politically, the ruling party, New Democracy, is opposed to same sex marriage and its leader, current Prime Minister, Kostas Karmanlis has voiced this. Indeed, any progress in the issue simply relates to the rights of couples of different gender. Shamefully, he has passed legislation - and here Greece is the only country in the world to have done so - to secure civil union rights exclusively for heterosexual couples. Well done Kostas - considering some of the spicy rumours about his personal life. In any case, it is clear that European legislation overrides Greek legislation on the issue so any recourse to the European Court of Human Rights will be sure of victory.

The largest opposition PASOK, did table a proposal in April 2006 on rights of couples, both heterosexual and homosexual but this got no where and was hypocritical in that it foresaw adoption rights only for heterosexual couples.

One major factor in this whole despicable hypocrisy is, of course, the Greek Orthodox Church which in social aspects still trundles along in the 17th century but has tremendous financial and thus political power. The only light on the horizon is that the newly elected head of the Church in Greece, has stated that the church must change with the times.