Greek Bill on LGBTQ Marriage Tests Orthodox Church's Influence

At the World Economic Forum in Davos last week, Greek President Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced that legislation to allow same-sex couples to marry will be approved by the parliament in Athens by the middle of February. Citing his government’s support for equality but also “the rights of the children that already exist,” Mitsotakis called marriage for same-sex couples “a fact, it is reality, and ultimately I think that this must be the result of legislation of the Hellenic Parliament.” But the bill is testing another longstanding reality in Greek public life: the influence of the Greek Orthodox Church, which is vociferously opposing the idea of legalizing marriage for anyone but traditional heterosexual couples.