Court overturns first Greek gay 'weddings'

A court in Greece has overturned the country’s first “homosexual weddings”, which took place last year as a result of a legal loophole.

Greek civil law does not specify the gender of a couple who intend to get married. As a result a gay and a lesbian couple tried to get married last year on the island of Tilos, despite warnings of criminal charges from officials.

However a public prosecutor from the island of Rhodes took the case to court and argued that neither the constitution nor the law refers to same-sex marriage. The prosecutor asked the court to cancel the weddings.

Vassilis Hirdaris, the defendant's lawyer said, “The court said the weddings were invalid … We will appeal within May ... but I fear the appeal court's decision won't be different, considering how conservative Greek courts are."

Hirdaris added that the couples wanted to take the case to the European Court of Human Rights if their appeal was unsuccessful.

The “marriages” were strongly criticised by the Orthodox Church in Greece, which performs around 90 per cent of weddings in Greece. The Greek Justice ministry also declared the “weddings” illegal.