Church to fight gay couple rights

The Holy Synod of the Church of Greece decided Friday to launch a campaign against the extension to same-sex couples of a so-called cohabitation agreement which grants heterosexual couples living together similar rights to those who are married.

The decision came after Archbishop Ieronymos wrote to Justice Minister Nikos Paraskevopoulos describing the cohabitation agreement as “a neoliberal rewarding of irresponsibility in interpersonal relations which it relegates to a simple transaction” and questioning whether the legislation, which is currently in draft form and foresees extending the agreement to gay couples, was an attempt to take steps toward legitimizing “the homosexual family.”

The synod said the pact was “a diversion from the family unit.”