RT
Greece’s center-right government is planning to submit a draft law allowing same-sex marriage, despite long-standing opposition from the country’s influential Orthodox Church and lawmakers. In an interview with the state-run ERT broadcaster on Wednesday, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced: “What we are going to legislate is equality in marriage.” He did not specify a timeframe, but said it will “not be long.”
“We will remove any discrimination concerning sexual orientation in the issue of marital relationship,” Mitsotakis said, while clarifying that the bill would allow child adoption, but not surrogate parenthood, for same-sex couples.
“The idea of women who are turned into child-producing machines on demand… it’s not going to happen,” he said.
The bill is expected to divide Mitsotakis’s conservative New Democracy party, with some lawmakers opposing any such changes. Mitsotakis said he would not “force” them to back the legislation, and would seek cross-party support. The issue is a priority for the main opposition party, Syriza, whose leader Stefanos Kasselakis is openly gay, and says he and his husband – whom he married in New York in October – want to become parents through surrogacy…
