23 Dec Greek parliament passes a Law to recognize same sex partnerships
Opposition MPs helped the government pass with a wide majority legislation on Tuesday night that grants gay couples full marriage rights even though it did not have the full support of coalition partner Independent Greeks.
Three of the nine Independent Greeks deputies voted for the legislation, which was deemed a significant step toward the country aligning its civil rights with other European Union members.
A total of 194 lawmakers voted for the bill and 55 voted against. Just 19 of 75 New Democracy deputies casted their ballot in favor of the legislation.
The conservative party decided not to back the legislation after feeling that its objections to some aspects of the law had not been satisfied.
Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said the passing of the bill helped defend people’s right to equality “regardless of gender and sexual orientation.”
“This ends a period of backwardness and shame for the state, which led to our country receiving international rulings against it,” he said. “Instead of celebrating, though, maybe we should apologize to hundreds of thousands of fellow citizens that have been denied their rights all these years.”
Source: Ekathimerini