Documento: minutes of the shocking commission meeting that approved the adoption of LGBTQ+ minors

Documentonews.gr published the minutes of the meeting of the parliamentary committee on social issues, at which a law was approved recognizing the marriage of LGBTQ+ people and giving them the right to have minor children.

The initials LGBTI+ stand for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex. The “+” symbol any “deviations” that are not yet recognized as “normal” are designated, e.g. pedophilia, bestiality, etc.

Of particular interest is the fact that representatives of the Greek Church were not invited to the commission to express their opinion, apparently because the government did not want to expose Archbishop Ieronimos, who took a clearly conciliatory position, despite numerous statements that the EOC was against this law .

On the contrary, all existing LGBTQ+ rights organizations in Greece were invited to support the bill. It is clear that these groups will not be satisfied with the bill. They additionally demand the abolition of paternity and maternity, replacing them with the terms Parent 1 and Parent 2 (as in the SYRIZA program)! They also demand unrestricted access to reproductive health care and the legalization of surrogacy.

The bill put to a vote “opens wide” the window for next steps, because that’s exactly what they will be. LGBTQ+ couples will go abroad to have children this way, and then other couples who cannot do so will appeal to the European Court, which in turn will condemn Greece. After this, the government will introduce an amendment to the law legalizing surrogacy. After all, all that is required for this is a simple amendment, which will be 100% adopted by the usual majority of votes of deputies.

The meeting was attended by the organization “Rainbow Families”, the non-profit non-governmental organization “Colorful School”, the Association for the Support of Intersex People, the Society of Child Psychiatry of Greece, the Civil Lawyer, the Greek Psychological Society, the Institute of Child Health, the Federation of Psychosocial Rehabilitation Organizations “ARGO”, Despina Paraskeva-Veloyiannis, Campaigns Officer, Amnesty International Greece, Elena-Olga Christidi, Research Fellow, Orlando LGBT+, Nancy Papathanasiou, Research Fellow, Orlando LGBT+, Rainbow Seniors Association, Proud Parents and Thessaloniki Pride Representative.

Also present via videoconference (Article 38§9) were NELFA (Network of European LGBTIQ Family Associations) and the Hellenic Psychiatric Society, as well as EGALITE, an association of LGBTI+ staff of European institutions. In contrast, only two organizations were invited to defend the previous norm: the Hellenic Women’s Federation and the Supreme Confederation of Greek Polytechnics.

Of course, this was more or less expected, but the invitation is of particular interest “Rainbow Seniors”“, that is, representatives of the older LGBTQ+ age group, whose presence was supposed to demonstrate the “confidence” with which the seniors “impose” their sexual choice.

“Our goal is to support middle-aged and older LGBTQ+ people in every possible way, providing them with benefits or support in the field of mental health, organizing events like this.

We represent a generation of people who grew up socially isolated because of their sexual orientation. We represent people who suffer from loneliness today because in years past it was unthinkable to have couples and families other than heterosexuals, and they ended up living alone.” Indeed, in order for such changes to occur and be more easily accepted by society, a “tearful” story is necessary.

STAMATIS ANTI (member of the board of EGALITE, an association of LGTBI+ staff in European institutions): “We propose to replace the so-called presumption of paternity with the presumption of parenthood, and for all couples. Simply put, a child born in wedlock should automatically be recognized as the child of both parents, as is the case with heterosexual couples.”

ELENI MARAVELIA (member of NELFA (Network of European Associations of LGBTQ+ Families)): “This bill does not make any changes in terms of access to medically assisted reproduction. Same-sex couples of women and men will not be able to have a child with the help of science.”

Bozikas VasiliosPresident of the Hellenic Psychiatric Society: “Nowhere in the literature and research does it mention that those challenges include growing up with same-sex parents. We can also say what contributes to mental health, and I think we’re all clear on that – it’s love and care.”

CONSTANTINE MAGKLARA (Secretary General of the Hellenic Society of Child Psychiatry): “I, like previous speakers, note that a consistent finding of our research is the significant impact of quality on parenting relationships, the upbringing and development of children, as well as factors associated with the socio-economic status of families.

At the same time, I highlight the issue of stigma, which is a persistent, psychologically stressful and aggravating factor for both adults and children, and stigma refers to the feelings of exclusion and discrimination that children may experience. In conclusion, I will also emphasize what was stated earlier: we know that there are numerous associations of adverse mental health correlates both in childhood and adolescence and later in life with institutional upbringing.

KRISTINA SKALUMBAKA (President of the Greek Women’s Federation) expressed the voice of reason, calling for the preservation of the family as it is, i.e. normal: The Hellenic Women’s Federation is positioning itself in relation to the government bill based on the interests of children and women working daily and their families. Based on this criterion, we express our disagreement with the bill introduced by the New Republic and, not coincidentally, supported by all parties that move along the rails EU.

Firstly, the bill opens the way to increased commercialization of the process of childbirth, to the expansion of commercial surrogacy, since there are currently very few children available for adoption in institutions, and same-sex couples will be able to have children either through private adoption or through adoption due to borders. In other words, by trafficking children either from poor vulnerable families or from other countries where children are starving.

However, they will mainly have children through commercial surrogacy and the purchase of sperm or eggs from legal banks. At first, same-sex couples will be able to hire surrogate mothers and bring children into the country from abroad. And at the second stage, which is being prepared and, apparently, has already been launched, this procedure will be carried out in Greece. In other words, legislation is being passed aimed at satisfying the personal desires of same-sex couples, which will be carried out through the extremely cruel exploitation of the female body in the reproductive process.

Second element. We are concerned about the provisions that are being introduced into the bill to adapt the provisions of labor legislation. The exclusion of the terms “father” and “mother” opens the way to questioning, in the name of equality, the rights to protect motherhood and the female body, which are the gains of the women’s movement, the movement of workers in general. The post-modern obscurantism of the bill opens the way to replacing women and pregnant mothers with people who are pregnant, or people with a uterus.

Third. The bill leads to the elimination of maternity or paternity by institutionalizing dual maternity or dual paternity, leading to multiple parenthood, i.e. Parent-1, Parent-2, Parent-3, etc. This erases the objective reality of the complementary relationship between father and mother in the process of childbirth, as well as the social nature of motherhood and fatherhood, which includes a biological aspect.

The social, mental, and emotional development of a child depends not only on the love of the parents, but also on a number of economic and social conditions, which today are considered costs of the state. Our children do not need caregivers, they need creative time with their parents, and this is taken away from them by the policies of the European Union and governments that make the lives of workers “rubbery” by forcing them to work 12 hours a day and on Sundays. Finally, I would like to point out, Mr. President, that other women’s organizations that are directly affected by this issue were not invited to today’s meeting and should be here to express their position.”

NIKOLAOS MAKRIS (President of the Greek Psychological Society): “Reviews and meta-analyses in recent years show that the sexual orientation of parents does not have a significant impact on the quality of relationships between parents and children, on the mental health of children and their social adaptation. In this regard, I would like to note that a 2023 meta-analysis, including studies that in total studied more than 1,000 children and more than a thousand parents, both same-sex and heterosexual, shows that adopted children adopted by same-sex parents have fewer problems than children adopted by heterosexual parents.”

Kleonikis Giannakopoulou, member of the group “Proud Parents”: “We still talk in terms of choice or stage. Some people are afraid that all their rights will be taken away from them and that their children will be learning differently. That’s what we’re dealing with today. Experts refuse to adhere to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) international classification system, and children and LGBTQ people continue to be subjected to psychiatric treatment.

DIMITRA – INES ANGELI (Secretary General of the Supreme Confederation of Greek Teachers) raised the fact that the law is inherently unconstitutional: “We see it as unconstitutional because the bill stipulates that marriage is between two persons of different sexes. This formulation is unconstitutional, since paragraph 1 of Article 21 directly states that the family, as the basis for the preservation and development of the nation, as well as marriage, motherhood and childhood, are under the protection of the state.”

Thus, since same-sex couples cannot contribute to the preservation of the nation, they cannot, according to the constitution, constitute a family. Therefore, marriage cannot be determined for such couples.

Secondly, we believe that the use of the terms “equality” and “right” in the listing is offensive. The new definition of marriage that you propose in the bill is touted as a consequence of the equality of Greek citizens before the law. This argument, however, does not hold water, since equality is defined only between similar and not dissimilar people. Greek citizens are equal, but not identical.

The European Court of Human Rights does not consider that not entering into same-sex marriage is a violation of human rights, and decision 1428 of the 17th Supreme Court made it clear that in our country there is no legal obligation on the adoption of a law on the institutionalization of same-sex marriage.

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