Greece's top
public prosecutor on Friday moved to block the country's
first gay marriage after a mayor on a tiny Greek island said
he was willing to perform the civil ceremony. Supreme
court prosecutor Giorgos Sanidas intervened to stop a
ceremony expected to take place this summer on the
east Aegean Sea island of Tilos -- declaring same-sex
marriages illegal.
Tilos mayor
Tassos Alfieris on Thursday said he would carry out the
ceremony for two gay men who took the first official step
toward marriage by posting a wedding notice in a Greek
newspaper.
No date has been
set for the service. Greek civil ceremonies are
conducted by municipal officials.
Gay groups in
Greece were angered after the conservative government left
gays out of plans to create civil partnerships that would
improve financial rights for unmarried couples
In March, a
lesbian organization discovered a loophole in a 26-year-old
law that does not specify gender in civil weddings. The two
men on Tilos would be the first pair to test it.
On Friday,
Sanidas issued a directive stating that marriage between
same-sex couples would be ''automatically nullified and
considered illegal.''
Sanidas said the
directive -- forwarded to prosecutors on the island of
Rhodes -- was based on an article in Greece's constitution
to protect family rights that defined marriage as
being between a man and a woman.
Rhodes is the
administrative capital for an island group that includes
Tilos.
Justice minister
Sotiris Hatzigakis also said he believes gay marriages
could not take place. ''This is not possible. It would not
be legal,'' he told state-run NET television.''
Greece's
influential Orthodox Church has expressed strong objections
to gay marriage in the past. (AP)
