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On paper, Gregory Vallianatos always wanted to marry, but when he was allowed to, he didn’t. In December 2015, gay and lesbian couples gained the right to enter into a civil partnership in Greece. This was progress in terms of legal equality, and this success is due in no small part to Vallianatos. He was the man who sued the Greek state when the parliament passed a bill to enable civil partnerships for heterosexual unions in 2008. For the sake of the lawsuit he pretended that he wanted to establish a civil partnership with Nikolaos Mylonas. At the time, this was just possible for heterosexual couples. But the model of a civil union for same-sex couples has existed for more than 15 years in other European countries. So, in 2015, this idea of a “light marriage” for lesbian and gay couples became law in Greece — involuntarily. Since Vallianatos won the lawsuit in front of the European Court for Human Rights in November 2013, the parliament was forced to extend the civil partnership to same-sex couples.
But it took two more years for the decision to be implemented. “It was not the top priority of the conservative government,” says Mr. Vallianatos. “And even with Syriza it took one more year to be done.” It was Kostis Papaioannouwho wrote and managed the draft bill that was to be passed in parliament. As the General Secretary for Human Rights he was part of the first Syriza government in Greece. “I found this humiliating for Greece, because it needed a court decision to get an equal civil partnership,” he says. For the party it was a good opportunity to show their progressive approach. “When Syriza formed the government in 2015, they took it for granted that they would give minorities equality in their basic human rights,” says Mr. Papaioannou. “There were voices that demanded radical changes in the law.” This narrative is way too positive for George Kounanis, an LGBTI rights activist for the Greek Helsinki monitor. He disagrees with this governmental narrative: “Syriza tries to pass the new law off as their own success, but in fact it was the court decision which just forced them to pass the bill.” Read more via Athens Live