Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis He said He wrote on social media that Greece is “proud to be the 16th country in the European Union to enact marriage equality legislation.” He described the move as a “milestone in the field of human rights, and reflects Greece today – a progressive and democratic country, deeply committed to European values.”
Thursday's vote crossed party lines, with 176 out of 300 lawmakers in the Greek parliament voting in favor of the measure. 76 people rejected the draft law, two abstained from voting, and 46 did not attend.
This change comes despite strong opposition from the socially conservative Greek Church, which… Last year, he issued a statement saying that same-sex marriage does not preserve the traditional family structure and that children are not “pets for anyone who wants to feel like a guardian.”
Orthodox Christianity is one of the world's three major Christian traditions and is largely found in Europe. There are 14 majority Orthodox Christian countries in the world, according to 2017 data from the Pew Research Center. Many of them are former Soviet countries such as Ukraine and Belarus.
During the debate on the bill in parliament on Thursday, MP Spyros Bibilas, who is openly gay, said he was attracted to male statues in museums as a child and cried in private because he knew he had to hide his identity, local media reported.
He said these “secret tears” made him fight “so other children wouldn't cry.”
