Answers on the content of the bill under submission for same-sex marriage, but also for the spirit of the bill, Minister of State Akis Skertsos gave during the meeting of the Council of Ministers.

The rapporteur of the bill, under the title, “Equality in civil marriage, amendment of the civil code and other provisions”, but also head of the National Strategy for LGBTQI, he also provided answers to questions and objections that have been formulated in the public debate, while he also quoted the international reality.

He began his introduction by recalling what the New Democracy program envisaged, which referred to “Implementation of the National Strategy for LGBTI Equality”.

At its core, the bill under submission “introduces equality to civil marriagei.e. access to the institution of civil marriage for all Greek citizens, without discrimination, and regardless of sexual orientation. It protects the interests of children regulating family law issues in families of same-sex couples’. On the contrary, “we do not extend the right of medically assisted reproduction (and surrogacy) to male couples,” he clarified at the outset.

Referring to what is happening in the rest of Europe and the world, the Minister of State demonstrated that the marriage of same-sex couples has been legislated in 36 countries on 5 continents, including 20 in Europe. And, citing then, the historical saying of Constantinos Karamanlis, that Greece “politically, defensively, economically, culturally belongs to the West”, he pointed out that “in almost all Western European countries it is now commonplace that they should not be recognized fewer rights to citizens because of their sexual orientation.”

Besides, he insisted, “the equality of citizens before the law is a constituent element of every liberal democracy”. And, in this regard, “we believe deeply in the institution of marriage, one of the oldest and most conservative institutions. We want all Greek citizens to have access to it.” After all, “17 of the 20 happiest countries in the world (according to the Gallup global happiness index) have marriage equality”, was another element that was invoked.

On the issue of adoption, A. Skertsos told his fellow ministers that 39 countries in the world allow adoption by same-sex couples, 23 of them are in Europe, while 16 member states of the European Union allow adoption. While, as he explained at the same time, “legislating equality in marriage, automatically implies the entire legislative framework of kinship relations, including adoption. Hence there is no separate article on adoption by same-sex couples in the bill.”

What is also already true is that our fellow LGBTI citizens are already having children, he said, and in fact through three ways: Either single women, legally, and through a sperm bank, or single men or women, through adoption, or Greeks abroad, through assisted reproduction or adoption. “With adoption we enable children who are already growing up in same-sex families to acquire the same rights as other children”, he pointed out.

At a later point in his presentation, he referred to the problems caused by the fact that the State recognizes only one parent as such (in cases of death, illness or divorce). “These children live among us, without the same rights as other children,” he underlined.

In addition, Greek children born abroad, to same-sex couples, cannot acquire Greek citizenship, in two words, “Greek children who are not recognized as Greek!”.

At the same time, however, the Minister of State questioned “how convincing and effective is a state that seeks to fight bullying at school, but does not recognize the existence of these children and their families?”.

However, it was also invoked Scientific studieswhich conclude that “there are no significant differences with children from heterosexual families, in cognitive development and school performance, social development, psychological development and sexual orientation”.

Schertsou’s motion continued with what the bill does not do: “the right to medically assisted reproduction is not extended to male couples, let alone to couples outside marriage or cohabitation. No reference is made to Parent 1/Parent 2 (father/mother remains). Male and female remain the two sexes and no windows are opened for future changes in the number of sexes. The framework for the Coexistence Agreement is not modified at all.” In conclusion, “the draft law of the New Democracy is measured, balanced and frugal, and aligns our country again with Western Europe”.

To the question, why can’t all this be solved by an amendment to the cohabitation agreement, he argued that “the institution of “guardianship” does not entitle the child to alimony or social security benefits or inheritance”. Also, “if we create a new institution of “guardianship”, it should also include heterosexual couples. No country has solved the problems like this, it would be a world first.” Finally, “if we simply include adoption as a right in the cohabitation contract, we simply maintain the discrimination against marriage,” he noted.

Citing, finally, a relevant poll by the Marc company, he concluded that “acceptance of marriage equality is increasing. Society supports children’s rights.” And, based on international practice, “acceptance of marriage equality increases after enactment. There has been no retreat in any country.”

While in the concluding paragraph of the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States of America, in 2015, we read the following passage: “They expect that they will not be condemned to live in solitude, excluded from one of the oldest institutions of our civilization. They seek equality in dignity before the Law. The Constitution recognizes this right”.

See here the bill for the marriage of same-sex couples