Greece Prime Minister promises to legalize same-sex marriage

The Prime Minister of Greece, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, recently vowed to legalize same-sex marriage during an interview with Bloomberg.

“Same-sex marriage will happen at some point and it’s part of our strategy,” he said. “Greek society is much more ready and mature.”

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Greece currently allows civil unions but has not yet achieved full marriage equality. Nevertheless, this year it ranked number 13 in LGBTQ+-friendliness out of 49 countries in the annual index put out by LGBTQ+ advocacy organization ILGA-Europe. Topping the list were the countries of Malta, Belgium, and Denmark.

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Greece’s ranking was in part due to Mitsotakis’s championing of LGBTQ+ rights, as well as the fact that the country banned conversion therapy for minors in May 2022.

Last July, Greece’s parliament also passed a law banning “sex-normalizing” surgeries for babies born intersex. The law bans procedures for children under the age of 15 unless parents can obtain a court decision. 

According to Equaldex, Greece has also passed LGBTQ+ nondiscrimination laws and allows legal gender changes without surgery, though its parenting laws have a long way to go. A 2022 poll found that 51.7% of Greeks support same-sex marriage, and 69% support the Church’s right to refuse to perform them.

Topping ILGA-Europe’s rankings for most LGBTQ+-friendly countries are Malta, Belgium, Denmark, Spain, and Iceland. The bottom five least LGBTQ+-friendly countries on the list were Belarus, Russia, Armenia, Turkey, and Azerbaijan.