Greece legalizes same-sex civil partnerships

The law extends the concept of civil partnerships for the same-sex couples, giving them the right to get pensions and subsidies.

As the Proto Thema Greek newspaper reports, the bill was supported by two-thirds of the lawmakers (194) and opposed by only 55.

Twenty-nine out of seventy-five members of the center-right New Democracy Party voted for the legalization of same-sex civil partnerships. The party leadership refused to support the bill, demanding to include a ban on the adoption of children by such couples.

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras welcomed the decision of the Parliament on equal rights for all the citizens “regardless of gender or sexual orientation.” According to him, “instead of celebrating, we should apologize to the hundreds of thousands of citizens who have been deprived of these rights for all these years.”

Greece is the first Orthodox country that legalized same-sex unions. The Orthodox Church, the official status of which is enshrined in the Constitution, actively opposed the adoption of the law.

As reported, the citizens of Slovenia did not support the same-sex marriage in the referendum after almost two-thirds of the citizens had voted against the adoption of the law defining the marriage as a union between two consenting adults.