The price of marriage: Same-sex sexualities and citizenship in Greece

Abstract

In contrast to other European countries Greece seems to be the only country which has passed a registered cohabitation law that applies only to heterosexual couples. Thus, heterosexual couples in Greece can now choose between religious marriage, civil marriage or registered partnership, while same-sex couples are still denied any sort of legal recognition regarding their relationship. In this article I discuss recent LGBT (Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender) politics in Greece, and their efforts for the recognition of same-sex marriage, in order to argue that LGBT agendas, European politics, and state policies on marriage and same-sex couple recognition cannot be disconnected from local conceptualizations of kinship, gender and sexuality. The paradox of a registered cohabitation law that excludes same-sex couples can only be explained in relation to the cultural significance of heterosexual coupling as a prerequisite for the fulfillment of one’s subjectivity. Yet, from another perspective the same cultural idiom that values coupling and marriage may be used to explain the almost unified LGBT organizations’ stance towards pro-marriage agendas.