Greece wants to legalize marriage between same-sex couples and grant the right to adoption

The Prime Minister declared on Wednesday that he wanted to eliminate “all discrimination based on sexual orientation with regard to the conclusion of a marriage”.

A major LGBT breakthrough in Greece. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced on Wednesday January 10 that he wanted to legalize marriage between same-sex couples and grant the right to adoption to same-sex couples, in a country where a traditional family model still predominates. “What we are going to legislate is marriage equality, that is, the elimination of all discrimination based on sexual orientation with regard to entering into a marriage”affirmed the head of the conservative government, in an interview with the public television channel ERT.

“What is marriage really? I would say that it is the culmination of love between two people. But it is also a legal contract with rights and obligations”, he added. Kyriakos Mitsotakis did not specify when the bill would be submitted to MPs, but according to Greek media, this approach should take place before the European elections in June.

Not allowed to use a surrogate mother

Since 2015, Greece has had a civil union. But for same-sex couples with children, only the biological parent has rights over those children. Thus, in the event of the death of the biological parent, the child is taken from the other parent. Kyriakos Mitsotakis also insisted on the fact that this parent currently had no “no right” on the child.

“Same-sex couples have children, and these children will not cease to exist, they will not disappear. But these children do not have the same rights,” regretted the Prime Minister to defend his project. It is in particular to put an end to this problematic situation that Athens wishes to grant the right to adoption to homosexual couples. On the other hand, unlike heterosexual couples, they will not be authorized to use a surrogate mother.

Among the 27 countries of the European Union, fifteen have legalized same-sex marriage and sixteen adoption by same-sex parents.