Tiptoeing into same-sex marriage

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has chosen a low-drama approach in his effort to reform family law to allow same-sex couples to marry.

In a TV interview last Wednesday, Mitsotakis made it clear he wants to avoid intra-party tension, even as some MPs from his ruling New Democracy party, including a former prime minister, are loudly proclaiming their opposition.

In the interview, Mitsotakis suggested that MPs with a conscience problem should abstain, hoping that the left-wing opposition will support the proposed bill out of principle, despite criticizing its “inadequacy.” Also, according to parliamentary rules, abstentions would lower the required majority threshold from 151 to as few as 75 votes in the 300-member Parliament.

Privately, Mitsotakis has made it clear, first to his own cabinet, which includes some dissenters, and his parliamentary group that, even if sanctions were not imposed, everyone’s stance would be assessed and presumably affect future prospects.

Mitsotakis said that, when the time comes, likely in February, to vote on the bill, cabinet members will vote as simple MPs. But, later last week, government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis repeated a Mitsotakis phrase that cabinet members have a “greater commitment” to supporting decisions by that body.

The cabinet is set to take up the marriage reform issue at its next meeting, toward the end of January.

Same-sex couples can already sign a civil partnership contract. The proposed bill would allow them to enter a civil marriage. Even though Orthodox Christianity is the official state religion, Mitsotakis knew better than to force religious marriage to a deeply opposed Church.

It is this opposition and that of a significant swath of voters, almost all religious, who have trouble accepting same-sex marriage, that has given many conservative MPs pause. It is not known how many of them base their opposition on principle rather than fear of their electorate.

The thorniest issue is children. Mitsotakis said he would oppose having them by surrogacy, but a close aide, Minister of State Akis Skertsos, told Kathimerini that children born of surrogacy abroad would be fully recognized, bypassing any domestic prohibition.