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Greece court invalidates first same-sex marriages performed in country

By Bernard Hibbitts (editor) and University of Pittsburgh School of Law students.

[JURIST] A Greek court ruled Tuesday that same-sex marriages performed in the country are invalid. Two same-sex couples were married last year by a local mayor on a small Aegean island, as the 1982 Greek civil marriage law simply saying that marriages must be between two "persons" without specifying that one party must be a man and the other a woman. A local prosecutor had petitioned the court in Rhodes to have the marriages declared void, and the court granted the prosecutor's request, finding that Greek law does not explicitly permit same-sex marriage. The lawyer for the couples said they plan to appeal within the Greek judicial system and then to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), if necessary. After the couples were married last June, the Greek Minister of Justice quickly condemned the marriages as legally "non-existent". The ceremonies united the couples despite preliminary warnings from top Greek prosecutor Giorgos Sanidas that such marriages are not permissible under Article 21 of the Greek Constitution and that charges would be brought if the mayor allowed the wedding. Earlier last year, the Ministry of Justice established a group to investigate recognizing same-sex marriages after the Greek National Commission for Human Rights proposed legislation to allow same-sex marriage, but no further action has been taken in Greece on the national level. The influential Greek Orthodox Church is strongly opposed to same-sex marriage.

Full post as published by JURIST - The Paper Chase on May 06, 2009 (boomark / email).