LESBIAN AND GAY RIGHTS
Published by deviousdiva April 25th, 2006 in Personal.Is it possible that…
Greece could become the twelfth country in the European Union to legalise the civil unions of same-sex couples.
Let's join the 21st century shall we ?
For years, local gay and lesbian advocacy groups have been calling for legal recognition of homosexual partnerships, especially as regards taxation, inheritance, pensions and health care.
But some people seem to think that the gay community is not part of Greek society.
Justice Minister Anastasios Papaligouras told the parliament in December 2005 that the recognition of homosexual partnerships is "not something demanded of us by Greek society - at least not now".
Read the full article from the Athens News
I don’t think this will happen in Greece, not without a severe change in people’s attitudes.
Remember that the Greek Orthodox Church’s official policy is that it abhors homosexuality in all it’s forms (however this doesn’t really explain why junior and senior members of the church seem to be getting caught getting up close and personal with other male members of the same sex LOL).
Anyway, back to seriousness, it wasn’t so long ago that Mega (one of the top TV channels here in Greece) was fined 100,000€ because on one of it’s late night drama shows called ‘Close Your Eyes’, two men kissed! SHOCK(!) HORROR(!). This is the same program that features other aspects of real life, voilence, drugs, abortions, infidelity etc. That is all fine but the minute you let two cast members kiss, you’re hit with a large fine from the TV watchdogs.
So at the moment, in a country that can’t accept gay people kissing on TV, as well as belonging to a church that (publically) abhors homosexuality then I don’t think there’s much chance of same sex marriages becoming the norm here.
Not yet anyway…
hey, deviousdiva,
i stopped by after you commented on my space - i must tell you that i like what you’re writing. when i have more time - maybe later tonight - i’ll definitely come back and read yours posts and leave more substantial comments. you cover a lot of issues that are of concern to me.
and then i’ll figure out why you’re concentrate on greece - i figure that’s where you are/are from?
i linked to you, i hope it’s ok. later!
Hi Diva,
Heading back to the states for good. Greece was great but time to get back home!
Loved this topic, and honey Greece is lacking in this area.
And remember, I’m saying this as a gay man and a gay journalist.
Keep up the good words girl!
Ellasdevil, yes Greece has a long way to go I am sure, but at least the issue is on the table finally. I think it will be many years before we will see any changes but it’s a step in the right direction. (Not soon enough for those needing those rights now) Let’s see what kind of public outcry there will be about this one. Sigh.
Hello skyscraper and welcome. Link away. The community is growing. I blog about issues of human rights and racism etc in Greece because this is where I am living although I am English. I do write personal accounts too. If you want to get a quick flavour of this blog without having to search too much, check out the top menu bar. Most of the good stuff gets linked up there. I hope you will come back and comment. I will be visiting you now I found your site feed.
Doug Dangur! welcome back my friend. Sorry to hear you are leaving but you will be able to visit all the little Greece bloggies to keep up! I hope you will drop by here from time to time. Good luck with everything and thank you for all your wonderful words.
ms DD
Dont count any chickens ,
before they hatch.
ellas devil said it all ,
pretty much.
== Z ==
Hey Zardoz
No chickens counted. Just an egg on the table.
hey girl…
sorry i’m yet to come back here to ’substantially’ explore and comment . still swamped and looking forward to doing all my blogsploration this weekend.
thanks for your welcome! and thanks for commenting to my shit today.
;-0