Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has announced his commitment to legalizing same-sex marriage, marking a significant advancement for LGBTQ rights in a region where certain conservative governments impose restrictions on the community.
In an interview with Bloomberg Television in Athens, Mitsotakis, a centre-right politician, affirmed that including same-sex marriage in their strategy is inevitable. He also believed that Greek society has evolved and is now more prepared and progressive on this issue.
“Same-sex marriage will happen at some point and it’s part of our strategy,” Mitsotakis, a center-right politician, said Tuesday in an interview with Bloomberg Television in Athens. “Greek society is much more ready and mature.”
The Brussels-based non-governmental umbrella organization benchmarks 49 countries on their legal and policy situation for LBGTI people, from 0% to 100%. With a ranking of 57% in the latest report, up five percentage points compared to the previous year, Greece has overtaken countries such as the UK and Germany.
In 2021, Greece witnessed a significant shift towards progress in LGBTQ rights. The catalyst for this change was the formation of a committee by Mitsotakis to draft a national strategy for this cause. Since then, the Prime Minister has implemented several reforms, such as reversing the ban on homosexual men donating blood and putting an end to the harmful practice of sex-normalizing surgeries on children. Mitsotakis has been a surprising yet commendable advocate for change.
Greece granted legal recognition to same-sex civil partnerships in 2015 and recognized gender identity in 2017. However, overall progress on LGBTQ+ rights had been slow until Mitsotakis assumed office in 2019.
