A lesbian pair
will be the first same-sex couple to marry in a Greek
civil ceremony next week, taking advantage
of a loophole in a 1982 law that fails
to specify gender for civil unions. The couple
will be married by the mayor of the Kessariani quarter of
Athens, who belongs to the radical liberal Syriza
party, the Agence France-Press reported Thursday.
Gay rights
activists said that had the mayor refused to perform the
ceremony, they would have petitioned the Greek Council of
State.
The wedding
announcement comes a day after Olke -- Greece's top gay
rights group -- announced that they would appeal to the
government for same-sex marriage and adoption
rights for gays and lesbians, as well as denounce
a proposed bill that would limit unions exclusively to
heterosexuals. The activists said that Greece's marriage
legislation violates the European human rights
convention. The government currently opposes gay
marriage and bars gays from its military. (The
Advocate)