Same-sex marriage has been legal in Greece since 16 February 2024. In July 2023, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, head of the re-elected New Democracy party, announced his government's intention to legalise same-sex marriage. Its legalisation formed part of an LGBT equality action plan drafted in 2021 by a special committee appointed by Mitsotakis. Legislation was introduced to the Hellenic Parliament on 1 February 2024 and passed on 15 February by 176 votes to 76. The bill was signed into law by President Katerina Sakellaropoulou and took effect upon publication in the Government Gazette on 16 February. Polling suggests that a majority of Greeks support the legal recognition of same-sex marriage. Greece was the 16th member state of the European Union, the 21st country in Europe, and the 36th in the world to allow same-sex couples to marry.
Legislation recognizing cohabitation agreements, providing same-sex couples with some of the rights and benefits of marriage, was approved by the Hellenic Parliament on 23 December 2015 and published in the Government Gazette the following day.
Cohabitation agreements
Introduction for opposite-sex couples
The Government of Greece under Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis, which governed until October 2009, was opposed to same-sex marriage. The New Democracy-led government had proposed legislation that would offer several rights to unmarried couples, but only to opposite-sex couples. If introduced, the law was expected to be declared unconstitutional or against Council of Europe principles if brought to Greek or European courts. The Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) under George Papandreou, then in opposition, presented a legislative proposal in April 2006 for the recognition of unmarried couples, same-sex and opposite-sex, following the French example of the civil solidarity pact. However, according to some LGBT groups, the terminology of the proposal did little to advance LGBT rights, and it also banned same-sex couples from adopting. In November 2008, PASOK again submitted a draft law on cohabitation agreements, but it made no progress in Parliament. Responding to government proposals in 2008 to introduce legal rights for cohabiting couples, Archbishop Ieronymos II of Athens, Primate of the Church of Greece, suggested that "[t]here is a need to change with the time". It was unclear, however, whether this view applied to same-sex couples, particularly as the Church has previously opposed LGBT rights in general and civil union laws in particular.
Law 3719/2008 ("Reforms concerning the family, children and society"), which entered into force on 26 November 2008, established a form of partnership known as "cohabitation agreements" (Greek: σύμφωνο συμβίωσης, sýmfono symbíosis, pronounced [ˈsimfono simˈvi.osis]), but only available to opposite-sex couples.
Extension to same-sex couples
Discussions in 2009–2014
Before the October 2009 legislative election, the Panhellenic Socialist Movement announced its support for same-sex registered partnerships in a reply to a questionnaire sent by the Lesbian & Gay Community of Greece (OLKE; Ομοφυλοφιλική Λεσβιακή Κοινότητα Ελλάδας, Omofylofilikí Lesviakí Koinótita Elládas), an LGBT rights organization. PASOK won a majority of seats in Parliament in that election. On 17 September 2010, Minister of Justice Haris Kastanidis announced that a special committee had been formed to prepare a registered partnership law that would include both same-sex and different-sex couples. The committee was constituted on 29 July 2010 and, according to its members, its work was to make proposals regarding the modernization of family law. It discussed matters regarding heterosexual couples until the end of 2010, and matters regarding same-sex couples from January 2011 onwards. On 19 August 2011, a government official announced that legislation recognizing same-sex relationships would be introduced "soon". In February 2013, Minister of Justice Antonis Roupakiotis said that the government was considering amending the cohabitation agreement law to include same-sex couples.
On 8 February 2011, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) decided to merge and accept two cases from four couples regarding a breach of Article 8 (respect of private and family life), Article 14 (freedom from discrimination) and Article 13 (effective remedy) of the European Convention on Human Rights. The cases were brought to the ECHR as a result of the government introducing cohabitation agreement legislation that specifically and expressly excluded same-sex couples. On 7 November 2013, the ECHR ruled in Vallianatos and Others v. Greece that excluding same-sex couples from cohabitation agreements was discriminatory. On 12 November, PASOK announced its intention to introduce a bill extending the cohabitation agreement law to same-sex couples. In November 2014, it was announced that many major changes to Greek family law would be considered, including the extension of cohabitation agreements to same-sex couples. It was also reported that the Ministry of Justice was not considering same-sex marriage. Parliament was dissolved in December 2014 following the government's failure to elect Stavros Dimas as president of Greece. Snap elections were called for January 2015, delaying the discussion to the following year.
Passage of legislation in 2015
On 9 February 2015, following the January 2015 legislative election, the Syriza-led government, sworn in on 27 January 2015, promised to extend cohabitation agreements to same-sex couples. On 24 April 2015, the Secretary General of the Ministry of Justice announced the government's intention to introduce a bill to the Hellenic Parliament within two months. Shortly thereafter, a committee was formed to study the issue until 15 June 2015. The bill was published on 10 June 2015.
A new draft of the cohabitation agreement bill, which would grant same-sex couples some of the rights of marriage, was published on 9 November 2015. It was under public consultation until 20 November. Justice Minister Nikos Paraskevopoulos announced that the legislation would not grant adoption rights to same-sex couples, but that the issue "would be studied in the future". The bill was submitted to Parliament on 9 December, and approved on 22 December 2015 by a vote of 193–56 with 51 abstentions, following a contentious debate that lasted ten hours. The bill was supported by the governing center-left Syriza, the Democratic Alignment, The River and the Union of Centrists, but opposed by the far-right Golden Dawn, while the liberal-conservative New Democracy and the national-conservative Independent Greeks were divided. The Communist Party of Greece mostly abstained. The law was signed by President Prokopis Pavlopoulos, and published in the Government Gazette on 24 December. It took effect upon publication. The first same-sex cohabitation agreement was conducted in Athens on 25 January 2016 by Mayor Giorgos Kaminis.
On 9 November 2016, the government submitted a draft bill equalizing cohabitation agreements with marriages in several areas including employment benefits and workers' rights. The bill was approved by Parliament on 2 December in a 201–21 vote. It was signed into law by President Pavlopoulos on 8 December 2016 and took effect upon publication in the official journal the following day.
Statistics
According to the Hellenic Statistical Authority, 2,330 same-sex cohabitation agreements had been registered in Greece by the end of 2023, mostly between male couples. Cohabitation agreements have also become popular among opposite-sex couples. In 2023, 39% of all unions conducted in Greece were religious marriages, while 34% were civil marriages and 27% were cohabitation agreements.
Same-sex marriage
First marriages in Tilos
In 2008, the LGBT rights group OLKE announced its intention to sue municipalities that refused to marry same-sex couples, pointing out a loophole in the 1982 law that legalized civil marriage between "persons", without reference to gender. On 3 June 2008, Mayor Anastasios Aliferis of Tilos married two same-sex couples, two lesbians and two gay men, citing the legal loophole. He was heavily criticized by clergymen of the Church of Greece, which in the past had also opposed the introduction of heterosexual civil marriage, the original intent of the 1982 law. Justice Minister Sotirios Hatzigakis declared the Tilos marriages "invalid" and Supreme Court prosecutor Georgios Sanidas warned Aliferis of the legal repercussions of his "breach of duty", but he said he had "no intention of annulling the marriages". Government officials filed a court motion to annul the two same-sex marriages, triggering demonstrations and protests among the LGBT community.
On 5 May 2009, a court of first instance in Rhodes ruled that the marriages were invalid, but the couples appealed the ruling. A hearing in the case by a court of appeal was held on 14 January 2011. The court issued a decision invalidating both marriages on 14 April 2011. On 30 November 2017, this ruling was upheld by the Supreme Court. The couples subsequently announced their intention to sue Greece at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).
Tsipras governments
Syriza, the main party in Greece's coalition governments from 2015 to 2019 under Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, had promised to legalize same-sex marriage as part of its September 2015 campaign platform, though no legislation was ever proposed. On 10 June 2019, a few weeks ahead of the parliamentary election held on 7 July 2019, Tsipras repeated the promise, stating that his party would push through same-sex marriage legislation if it won the election. However, his party was not re-elected.
Passage of legislation in 2024
On 17 March 2021, Prime Minister Mitsotakis formed a committee mandated to prepare a national strategy for LGBT equality. The committee was chaired by Linos-Alexandre Sicilianos, a former president of the ECHR. Its members included experts in family and constitutional law, representatives of civil society including spokespeople from the Transgender Support Association, Thessaloniki Pride and the Rainbow Families of Greece, as well as several government officials. Among them were Panos Alexandris, Secretary General of Justice and Human Rights, and Alex Patelis, the Chief Economic Adviser to the Prime Minister, who had publicly come out as gay in June 2020, becoming the most senior openly LGBT government official in Greece. On 29 June 2021, the committee presented the national strategy to Mitsotakis, which included a section addressing same-sex marriage. A dedicated team within the Prime Minister's office was subsequently formed to develop an action plan based on the strategy's recommendations. Numerous meetings were held with relevant ministries, and the plan's proposals were integrated into their respective annual action plans. As a result of these policies, ILGA-Europe raised Greece's score on its "Rainbow Map" from 47% in 2021 to 57% in 2023, ranking the country 13th in Europe.
In June 2022, Syriza lawmakers introduced a same-sex marriage bill to the Hellenic Parliament, but it was not discussed before the end of the legislative session. On 1 April 2023, Tsipras again vowed to legalize same-sex marriage if his party were elected to government in the May 2023 elections; however, Syriza was not elected.
In July 2023, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, whose New Democracy party was re-elected in the June 2023 election, announced his government's intention to legalize same-sex marriage. In an interview with Bloomberg Television, Mitsotakis added that "Greek society is much more ready and mature." In September, Kathimerini reported that a draft bill legalizing same-sex marriage was expected to be introduced to Parliament "in the coming months". The bill would define marriage as the union of "two persons of the same or different sex", and guarantee all the rights and obligations of marriage to married spouses irrespective of sexual orientation. Mitsotakis also said New Democracy MPs would be granted a conscience vote. In November 2023, media reported that the government was "finalising" the bill. In December, the monastic community of Mount Athos expressed its opposition to the bill. The Church of Greece also released a statement opposing the proposed bill. It also expressed its opposition to adoption by same-sex couples and argued that children "are being treated as 'accessories' and 'companion pets' for gay couples". Government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis reacted to the statement, "We always listen to the opinions of the Church with respect. But at the same time, we are implementing our policy, and will listen to the views of society, civil society, the citizenry, institutions, and parties in total." An opinion poll conducted in December showed that 52% of Greek citizens supported same-sex marriage.