Greece legalized gay marriage. Will other Orthodox Christian countries?

A protester raises a banner during an Athens rally against same-sex marriage.

By PETER SMITH and DASHA LITVINOVA

Associated Press

Feb. 16, 2024 7:38 AM PT

Greece has become the first majority-Orthodox Christian nation to legalize same-sex marriage under civil law. At least for the near future, it will almost certainly be the only one.

Eastern Orthodox leadership, despite lacking a single doctrinal authority like a pope, has been united in opposing recognition of same-sex relationships both within its own rites and in the civil realm. Public opinion in majority Orthodox countries has mostly been opposed, too.

But there are signs of change. Two small majority-Orthodox countries, Montenegro and Cyprus, authorized same-sex unions in recent years, as did Greece in 2015, before last week’s approval of full marital status.

Civil unions may become more common among Orthodox countries gravitating toward the European Union. Such unions remain off the table in Russia, which has cracked down on LGBTQ+ expression, and countries in its orbit.

Here is a summary of church positions and public opinion in the Orthodox world, followed by the situation in individual majority-Orthodox lands.

The Orthodox Christian world

Eastern Orthodoxy is a socially conservative, ancient church with elaborate rituals and a strict hierarchy.

Churches are mostly organized along national lines, with multiple independent entities that share ancient doctrine and practices and both cooperate and squabble.

Roughly 200 million Eastern Orthodox live primarily in Eastern Europe and neighboring Asian lands, with about half that total in Russia, while smaller numbers live across the world. Like other international church bodies, Orthodoxy has confronted calls for LGBTQ+ inclusion.

A 2016 statement by a council of most Orthodox churches called marriage between a man and a woman “the oldest institution of divine law” and said members were forbidden from entering same-sex unions.

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, considered the first among equals among Orthodox leaders, affirmed that stance in a statement after the Greek vote. But he added that the church must respond to members in such unions “with pastoral responsibility and in Christ-like love.”

In countries where they are a majority, Orthodox believers overwhelmingly said society should not accept homosexuality or approve same-sex marriage, according to surveys conducted in 2015 and 2016 by the Pew Research Center, a Washington-based think tank.

Those in the Greek Orthodox church showed relative tolerance, with half saying homosexuality should be accepted and a quarter favoring same-sex marriage. In more recent polls, Greeks overall narrowly supported the marriage law.

The Greek law validates marriage in the civil realm but doesn’t require any church to perform such rites.

Nevertheless, Greece’s Orthodox leadership unanimously opposed the law in January, saying the “duality of genders and their complementarity are not social inventions but originate from God.”

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis acknowledged the church’s position but said, “We are discussing the decisions of the Greek state, unrelated to theological beliefs.”

Civil unions may be in some Orthodox countries’ near future, said George Demacopoulos, director of the Orthodox Christian Studies Center at Fordham University in New York.

“In terms of civil marriage, I think the countries that are in the European Union will eventually all do it,” Demacopoulos said. “My guess is the assemblies of bishops in those countries will offer some resistance to the measure, and depending on where you are, that may or may not delay it.”

Ukraine

In Ukraine, same-sex couples cannot register their status legally.

In 2023, the issue became acute as many LGBTQ+ people joined Ukraine’s armed forces. That year, a bill was introduced in parliament to establish civil partnerships for same-sex couples, providing basic rights such as compensation if one of the partners is killed in action.

The All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations — which includes Ukraine’s two rival Orthodox churches — opposed the draft law, contending that some international entities are using the country’s current vulnerability to force unwanted changes. The legislation remains pending.

The European Court of Human Rights ruled in 2023 that Ukraine violated the rights of a same-sex couple who sought legal protections provided to married heterosexual couples.

Ukraine is majority Orthodox, with various religious minorities.

Russia

In increasingly conservative Russia, President Vladimir Putin has forged a powerful alliance with the Russian Orthodox Church and has made what he calls “traditional family values” a cornerstone of his rule, juxtaposing them with “perversions” of the West.

Putin effectively outlawed same-sex marriages in a 2020 constitutional revision that added a clause stipulating that marriage is a union of a man and a woman.

In 2013, the Kremlin adopted what’s known as the “gay propaganda” law, banning any public endorsement of “nontraditional sexual relations” among minors.

After sending troops into Ukraine in 2022, Russian authorities ramped up a campaign against what it called the West’s “degrading” moral influence, in what rights advocates saw as an attempt to legitimize the war.

Patriarch Kirill of Moscow has assailed LGBTQ+ rights. As head of the Russian Orthodox Church, he oversees the world’s largest Orthodox flock. He depicted his country’s invasion of Ukraine as part of a metaphysical struggle against a liberal agenda that included “gay parades.”

In November, Russia’s Supreme Court effectively outlawed LGBTQ+ activism. The court labeled what the government called the LGBTQ+ “international movement” as an extremist group and banned it in the country.

In 2021, a survey by Russia’s top independent pollster, the Levada Center, showed that only 33% of Russians completely or somewhat agree that gay men and women should enjoy the same rights as heterosexuals, a decrease from earlier years.

Belarus

The Belarus Family Code defines marriage as a “union between a man and a woman.”

There is no legislation prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

Homosexuality was decriminalized in Belarus in 1994, but the LGBTQ+ community faces heavy stigma and high suicide rates, advocates say.

Human rights groups report hundreds of cases of the KGB — the country’s main domestic security agency — trying to recruit gay people and threatening to “out” them.

Serbia and Montenegro

Serbia and Montenegro, conservative Balkan nations where the Serbian Orthodox Church holds huge influence, have had mixed results addressing LGBTQ+ rights as part of their efforts to join the European Union.

Tiny Montenegro passed a bill in 2020 allowing same-sex partnerships — not marriage, and with fewer rights. In Serbia, a similar draft law never made it to a parliamentary vote.

The Serbian Orthodox Church, which maintains close relations with the Russian church, has opposed the idea of same-sex marriage.

Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic has said he would not sign a bill on same-sex marriage, although Serbia has had an out lesbian prime minister for years. Activists have been campaigning for legal partnerships.

Pride marches in Serbia are routinely banned or held under tight security.

Romania and Moldova

Romania is one of the few European Union members that allow neither same-sex marriage nor civil unions, despite a growing social acceptance of LGBTQ+ people.

In 2023, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Romania had failed to enforce same-sex couples’ rights by not legally recognizing their relationships.

In early February, LGBTQ+ activists were allegedly assaulted while holding a peaceful protest outside the Bucharest headquarters of the country’s far-right AUR party.

In 2018, Romania held a referendum — backed by the Orthodox Church — on whether to narrow the constitutional definition of marriage from a “union of spouses” to a “union between one man and one woman.”

LGBTQ+ rights campaigners urged Romanians to boycott the vote, which failed due to low turnout.

In neighboring Moldova, which isn’t an EU member but has official candidate status, neither same-sex marriages nor unions are allowed.

Large majorities in both countries are Orthodox.

Bulgaria

Public opinion in Bulgaria is mostly hostile to gay people, and the country’s constitution explicitly prohibits the recognition of same-sex marriage.

The European Court of Human Rights last year found that Bulgaria’s government was violating European human rights law in failing to legally recognize same-sex couples.

The court also ruled that Bulgaria is obliged to adopt legal recognition for same-sex couples. However, the country has shown no signs of implementing the decision.

Leaders of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, of which about 80% of Bulgarians are members, condemned the court’s ruling and called on the government not to give in.

Smith reported from Pittsburgh and Litvinova from Tallinn, Estonia. Associated Press writers Jovana Gec in Belgrade, Serbia; Yuras Karmanau in Tallinn; Stephen McGrath in Bucharest, Romania; Illia Novikov in Kyiv, Ukraine; and Veselin Toshkov in Sofia, Bulgaria, contributed to this report.