Same-sex families accuse former ND premier of ‘stigmatizing’ their children
Representative of same-sex families have accused two leading government party MPs opposed to same-sex marriage of “stigmatizing” their children because of the sexual orientation of their parents.
In an open letter addressed to former prime minister Antonis Samaras and Minister of State Makis Voridis, Eleni Maravelia and Stamatios Anthis, board members of the Network of European LGBTIQ* Families Associations (NELFA) and Egalité: Equality for LGBTQI in the EU institutions, respectively, said it was with “great sadness that we read your statements in the daily press, with which you stand against equality in marriage and adoption.”
“Contrary to what you claim, same-sex families with children in Greece will not suddenly appear when marriage and adoption equality are legislated; they have existed for years and are growing rapidly,” Maravelia and Anthis said.
“The main difference between these families is that the Greek state, ignoring the existence of the second parent, deprives the children of these families of basic rights enjoyed by other Greek children” in terms of medical coverage and emergencies, inheritance, alimony and citizenship (if born abroad), they continued.
“The state must protect all its members, but you have chosen to stigmatize the most vulnerable of them, our children, by punishing them because of the sexual orientation of their parents.”
The letter writers invited Samaras and Voridis “to talk with our children and with us to see for yourself that our families are no different from the rest, that the love is the same, and it is real and strong.”
In an interview with Kathimerini on Sunday, Samaras, who has stated that he will vote against legalizing same-sex marriage, said. “We must support the nuclear family, where we have parental models of both sexes.” Voridis, one of the more conservative members of the New Democracy government, has also voiced his opposition, asserting that if and when such bill reaches Parliament, he will not back it.
