The Greek government’s gay marriage bill and adoption rights received widespread support among members of parliament during a debate held on Monday.
New Democracy member of parliament Maria Syrengela revealed that the bill was “yet another reformist action” by the government of Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
She stated that if the bill is passed, Greece will become the 37th country in the world to recognize the marriage of same-sex couples in national law.
Ekathimerini reported that out of 158 members of the New Democracy bill, around 100 are expected to vote in favour of the bill.
The remaining 58 are expected to either stand against it or will avoid voting completely.
Avoiding 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, which hold 36 seats, noted that while their party supports the bill, 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 issues.
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.
Additionally, communist KKE members of parliament, which hold 21 seats, will not be supporting the bill, condemning it as a “‘commercialization of childbearing and adoption'” which undermines children’s rights to develop bonds with both a mother and a father.
Greece’s far-right Solution party also condemned the bill, stating that it “‘goes against centuries of norms and values”. The party currently hold 12 seats.
New Left MPs (a group from SYRIZA that holds 11 seats) praised the bill for LGBT rights and criticized KKE for opposing it. The religious nationalist party Niki, which has 10 seats, condemned the draft bill and urged opposing MPs to vote against it.
Source: Ekathimerini.
