Greece to legalise marriages & adoption by same-sex couples

Athens: The Greek parliament is going to legalise same-sex marriage as well as adoption on Thursday. The move is, however, strongly opposed by the nation's powerful Orthodox Church, Agence France-Presse reported.

Though there is opposition expected from dozens of legislators, even from the ruling New Democracy party, the bill is expected to get passed with the support of opposition political parties.

LGBTQ communities hailed the vote as historic, saying that same-sex families have to face severe challenges amounting to discrimination under the prevailing family law.

As per the law, non-biological parents have no right to make decisions on medical procedures when their children fall ill in the country. Children do not automatically inherit from their non-biological parents. If a child is taken care of by two fathers, they could be entered in the civil registry only along with their biological mother's name. The biological name of the mother is also needed to be covered by social services.

The state has the power to take the child away from their non-biological parent if the biological parents die.

If the bill gets passed, Greece will become the first Orthodox Christian state to legalise adoption by same-sex families, while it would be the 17th in the European Union and the 37th country in the world.

The Church of Greece is in blatant disagreement over the bill and said that it completely opposes the reform. It argued that the reform will create a system where children will grow up in an "environment of confusion".

Archbishop Leronymous said that the law is part of a bid to impose a new reality that will only corrupt the society's social cohesion.

Meanwhile, around 4,000 people demonstrated against the bill in Athens on Sunday.