Gay marriage bill has wide support among MPs in committee debate
The Greek government’s bill legalizing gay marriage and adoption rights is receiving widespread support among parliamentarians during a debate at the committee level on Monday.
New Democracy MP Maria Syrengela hailed the bill as “yet another reformist action” by the government of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. If the bill is passed, Greece will become the 37th country to recognize the marriage of same-sex couples in national law, she added.
Of ND’s 158 MPs, around 100 are expected to vote in favor of the bill, while the remaining 58 are either standing against it or will abstain from the vote entirely.
Abstaining from the vote, as opposed to outright voting against it, is a move which was encouraged by Mitsotakis but condemned by former premier and lawmaker Antonis Samaras.
Leftist SYRIZA MPs, holding 36 seats, noted that while their party supports the bill, but noted that banning surrogacy for male couples while allowing it for heterosexual couples “is in complete contradiction to article 4 of the Constitution, which says that Greek men and women are equal before the law,” and warned that this provision could lead to future judicial disputes.
Socialist PASOK MPs, holding 32 seats, say they will support the bill but criticized the government for “cultivating division” in society over the bill. “The Greek family is not threatened, as some say to win a few votes, by equality in civil marriage. The Greek family and the future of young people is threatened by the government’s policies,” PASOK rapporteur Pavlos Christidis said.
Communist KKE MPs, holding 21 seats, will not be supporting the bill, condemning it as a “commercialization of child-bearing and adoption”, and undermines children’s rights to develop bonds with both a mother and a father as male and female role models, echoing the criticisms of ND’s Samaras on the matter.
Far-right Greek Solution party, holding 12 seats, condemned the bill claiming it “goes against centuries of norms and values.”
New Left MPs, a SYRIZA splinter faction holding 11 seats, praised the bill as a victory day for LGBT rights, and criticized KKE for standing against it.
Religious nationalist party Niki, with 10 seats, also condemned the draft bill and called on ND and the MPs of other parties who are against it to not abstain from the vote, but rather openly vote against it on grounds of conscience.
Citizens are divided on same-sex marriage, and more negative on legal recognition of their children, according to various nationwide opinion polls conducted in the last few months.
