Rights & Law	Sapphic News	Greek LGBT community	World by Country

the Sapphites answers to the COUNTRY QUESTIONAIRE for the Forumsisters book project.

In the Forumsisters book-project we collect the stories of Christian lesbians from all over Europe. In addition, we would like to give a short presentation of the situation for (Christian) lesbians (and LGBT people in general) in the different countries. It would be of great help if you could answer the questions below.

Name of country: Greece

Part 1: Laws concerning homosexuality
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1. Is homosexuality in any way forbidden by law?           Yes?   No?

answer: basicaly No, "but"..
a. - there's a law in the penal code against male-to-male sexual practices under certain conditions
b. there is no law protecting LGBT people against prejudism & discrimination
c. lesbians don't exist in Greek law - nor in Greek "normal" society (they're only allowed in 
male fantacy and porn).



2. If yes, what does the law say?

Under Article 347 (b) of the Greek Penal Code acts of "un-natural debauchery"
(implying male homosexual sex) are punishable crimes (3 months to 5 years imprisonment),
when committed for financial gain, or by an adult through the seduction of a person
under 17 years of age, or through abuse of power or relationship or dependency
between involved people.
Male prostitution is supposed to be legal under recent prostitution law, but
obviously not for "acts of un-natural debauchery". The age of consent for
heterosexuals is 15 years.
Heterosexual sex abusing or exploiting power/relationship/dependency is not punishable
when at least one of the involved persons is female !!!
The mere phrasing of the above article is characteristic of the typical
"acceptable" views of Greek society about homosexuality.)



3. Can lesbians / gays marry or register their partnership?    Yes?   No?

- Practically, No.

(The civil marriage law refers to "persons" but is unconstitutionally suppoosed 
to be "interpreted" to imply only heterosexual couples..
 No homosexual couple dares chalenge this "interpretation" in court, for fear 
of the media negative publicity expected.)



4. If yes, since when has the law existed?



5. Does the lesbian / gay couple have the same rights as a heterosexual married
couple?

- None known so far, ie :
The occasional homosexual couple refered to in the news, is rather treated as
a juicy scandalous exotic fruit, and a good occasion for homophobic gossip.

There is a law about recognizing couples married in other countries: it demands
the original marriage certificate stamped/confirmed by the ministry of foreign
affairs of the issuing country.
But no homosexual couple has been known of trying to use this law.



6. If no, what are the differences?

- (see above)
No rights, no marriage social priviledges, no right to visit in hospital, no pension,
no shared work-insurance, no inheritance, no nothing.



7. Is there any anti discrimination law protecting lesbians / gays against
discrimination at:
Work                                                   Yes      No
Housing market                                         Yes      No
Other areas?                                              Yes      No
If yes, what other areas?

answer:
- Law 3304/05 (February 2005) about equal treatment in employment and occupation, includes
sexual orientation protection. Does not offer any reallly fearsome punishments if broken.
- The Code of informative broadcasts on radio and TV also forbids negative discrimination 
against minorities, explicitly refering to sexual orientation (pesidential decree 77, 2003, 
article 4), but in practice the oposite is enforced by the Greek Authority on Radio and 
television, habitually punishing any attempt at presenting homosexual poeple as normal poeple
by huge fines, one of them actually stopped the one and only lgbt-news broadcast in early 2005.




8. If there is an anti discrimination law protecting lesbians / gays, since when
has the law existed?

- There is this bill that should have been validated before early December 2003,
about equal treatment in employment and occupation - in order to comply with relative
European Community directives valid since Dec. 2000.
The bill actually avoids naming homosexuals as a protected social group, except when it
absolutely has to, exempts much more than it should, and does not really provide any real protection
(no serious prohibitive punishments provided, nor any supportive institutions for homosexual people).
Discriminated-against people can resort to European courts, but this is too difficult and too expensive
for individuals, and organisations are still not allowed to offer much help - the above mentioned bill
is also supposed to improve this one, but is too vague about the subject, and will possibly be valid
only reffering to employment/occupation issues.
(this bill was publicised on Nov.6, 2003, but has not been presented to the parliament for discussion yet)
- This one finally became the above mentioned law 3304 of 2005.



9. Are other groups in the society protected through such a law? (on the grounds
of religion/ ethnical origin / gender/ handicaps?)

There is laws offering some protection to handicaped people and to specific ethnic
groups, like Roms.
The Greek Constitution prohibits discrimination on the grounds of religion, ethnic
origin and dissability, and recently there is a lot of stuff trying to support
non-discrimination between men and women (the "Gender directive" of the EC has
been translated in Greek as "equality between men and women", but does not exactly
support all men and all women, especially not if their gender and sexual IDs are
not exactly what is perceived to be the "normal, typical" male and female social
gender and sexual id's norms)
ie. there is an anti-discrimination law prohibiting the press from discriminating
on the basis of nationality, race and religion.



10. Are there any incidents that could briefly describe / illustrate the
situation for lesbians / gays in your country?

a. the occasional police raids in male-homosexual hung-out places, arresting
almost anyone present, just because they were there.. and alluding that they
"might" have been guilty according to the 347 article of the Greek penal code
if they just may stretch it so far.. (ie. meaning to indulge in acts of "un-natural
debauchery" for financial gain.. if someone has enough money on them..)

b. the frequent TV-talk shows against homosexuality .. "educating" the public that
it's a disease and an abhorent crime.. where church people and christian fanatics
are frequent quests of honor, explaining the above, and implying that "homosexuality
can be cured" sometimes even appearing as medical people.. with no proof about
their alledged medical studies, but still claiming they're some undefined kind
of a "pshychotherapist", and condemning the whole lgbt community in the worst
possible offensive and derogative remarks. Sometimes some of our few well-known
activists are also invited in those shows, to be crycified "live" by the media people
and the church people united against them.

c. there's still school-books taught at university schools and at the police academy,
presenting homosexuals as criminals and suspect of all kinds criminal acts, along
with drug-addicts and pedophiles - before they actually do anything!.

d. there's no sex-education at high-schools, not permitted by the Greek church,
so our youth are not allowed to know anything about either safe-sex nor alternative
sexualities.. nor how to protect their health for that mater!
If they happen to love someone of their same sex, they're gladly allowed to toil
under the false social pretence that they're the only sinners in a "healthy"
community where everyone is supposed to be heterosexual until proven guilty.
Human rights education is also stalled by the ministry of local church, also known
as ministry of education.

e. Every family is doing their best to "hide" from society the fact that one of
their members is or seems or might be a homosexual - while at the same time
gossiping about the possibly homosexual members of other families.
The derogatory word used for male homosexuals is considered one of the worst
"bad words" and at the same time is the bad word mostly used by the youth and
practically everyone on every occasion.
Lesbians "normaly" do not exist, except in porn and in heterosexual men typical
private sexual fantasies.

f. when the family accidentally discover their young daughter is "too friendly" to some girl-friend..
mostly the result is she practically has to live in a family nightmare from then on. Hourly
derogatory comments and insults are too frequent (except for the scarce "too refined" family,
when it's mostly more refined pcychological bias).
A lot of parents terrify their non-adult daughters threatening them they will throw them out of their
house. And most of the women and child-support institutions declare they're not exactly able to
help.. the young terrified girls had better seek a good indiscriminating councelor - which legentary 
indiscriminating counselor noone can actually name.
Some parents, especially in rural areas, will go further to enforce mariage asap. 
While other family members, especially male will enforce habitual violence on the unlucky girl.
If you know of any person fitting this discription in Greece, please let us know.

I think this is about the basics.. You get the picture.




Part 2. The situation in the churches
-----------------------------------------

1. Are lesbians / gays who are  living in open relationships welcome to
Eucharist?                        Yes             No

Comments:
I've never heard of anyone daring to admit their homosexuality in Church.
We usually know we're not-so-wellcome to church long before we dare be out
to our own selves.
So, everyone is wellcome to the Eucharist, especially in most big-city churches,
as long as they don't mention their sexual id's.



2. Can lesbian / gay partnerships be blessed in a ceremony?
Yes             No

Comments:
ROTFLOL - I understand you're not kidding, but this really sounds funny here.
May I repeat the question to my friends and lesbian groups?

Actually some lesbian women have expressed the need to know if there is any church
on the globe that supports blessing ceremonies for gays/lesbians, and find it very
difficult to believe there are some.
We would be gratefull for any shared of relevant information.



3. Are openly living lesbians / gays welcome to do volunteer work in churches /
church related organisations?                                           Yes             No

Comments:
Yes, ofcource, as long as they can be fully closeted and secretive enough
about their sexual id.



4. Can lesbians / gays work as ministers in the churches?               Yes             No

Comments:
Same here. Holy closet.
There's a lot of heresay about male homosexuality, especially in closed
male monastic societies. There's also some testimonies, mostly from young and
beautifull male foreign visitors, but this is a hush-hush subject and anyone
refering to it is just trying to undermine the Greek church..
The Orthodox church is still heavily discriminating against women, considering them "dirty".
Women are not allowed to access the church altar, are not alowed to be church-singers
and are even forbiden to touch the icons during their menses.
In answer to a letter asking the Greek church to reduce discrimination against women
in Dec. 2003, the archbishop answered that the church is not discriminating
against women, it goes so far as to allow them to be "deakons" ie. to help
with the church chores.
Women are typically the unpaid church servants, but not even think of anything close to ministry.



5. Can lesbians / gays have other types of employment in the churches?
Yes             No

The very-closeted, (and usually also internally homophobic ones), just might.
Most of the lesbians I know personally will rather never come close to a
church that's been treating them so negatively.
Out-closet people would not even think of seeking employment in church.



6. Are there any incidents / outspoken attitudes that could briefly describe /
illustrate the situation for lesbians / gays in your churches?

Not much outspoken stuff - except for the TV-talk-shows, where the church-person
fighting against homosexual "corruption" like fighting for their own lives is the
usual norm.
The official view is that homosexuals are wellcome to chuch, as long as they don't
practice their homosexuality, and they try to "heal" it.
But the actuall attitudes are forbiding even this one.



Part 3. Christian lesbian / gay networks
-----------------------------------------

1. What networks for Christian lesbians / gays exist in your country? If there
is no specific network for Christian lesbians, please give information on
general organisation for lesbians and make a note that this is not
specifically for Christians.
If possible, please write web page /contact address.


answer - no Christian lesbian/gay networks that I've ever heard of.


Network name: Sapphites, Greek : Greek-speaking women communication e-group
Number of members: (about a hundred)
Year of foundation: Dec. 2000
Web page / contact address: http://www.SapphoGR.net
(currently under major re-construction works)
Non-discriminating on the grounds of religion, but most of the members happen
to be Christians, mostly not by personal choice.


Network name: Omofylofilia - open communication about homosexuality in Greece.
Number of members: 88
Year of foundation: March 2003
Web page / contact address: http://geocities.com/omofylofilia/
(religion-independent, and non-discriminating in general)


Network name: Rainbow Forum
Number of members: varies (it's open monthly meetings on 1st Wd each month)
Year of foundation: March 2003
Web page / contact address: best through posting to the Omofylofilia e-list (above)
or contacting any Greek organisation or group supporting lgbt rights
(more info about groups/orgs in the Omofylofilia page, and in the Sapphites - Greek Groups page)
This one is also religion-independent


Network name: Athens Lesbian Group
Number of members: varies (open weekly meetings on Tuesday late evenings, us. 20-35 members, depends
greatly on the
season)
Year of foundation: Nov. 2000
Web page / contact address: http://geocities.com/sapphida/loa/ (EG/GR)
email: lesbiangroup-AT-hotmail.com
http://clubs.pathfinder.gr/lesviakiomadaathinas/ (Greek-only e-club)
Open to all lesbian, bisexual & inquiring women


Greece is not just Athens ...

Corfu & western Greece

Network name: lgbt-Corfu
Number of members: varies (weekly coffee-mettings & occasional parties and excursions )
Year of foundation: Nov. 2002
Web page / contact address: http://geocities.com/lgbtCorfu/  (EG/GR)
email: corfulg-AT-yahool.com
Open to all LGBTI+ people and friends,


Salonica & Northern Greece

contact www.geocities.com/sympraxis  


more women and lgbt groups in Greece.. http://geocities.com/sapphida/eg/grgroups.htm



We hope soon for an Aegean group..


..more Greek Lesbian & LGBT groups
.. books - bibliography on rights & Law
..Greek page about Rights & Law


Hermeia the InfoSharer

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