The following questionaire was issued by the ILGA and was forwarded on several mailing lists, in May 1996. The questionaire was prompted to request and gather information in order to be included in the forthcoming update of the "Pink Book". (The ILGA Pink Book is a country-by-country survey of the situation of homosexuals around the world).
The answers for the part concerning Greece, were provided (on June 10 1996) by the "Cooperation to Fight Homophobia", who kindly responded to the request for filling up the questionaire for RozMov.
________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ QUESTIONNAIRE ABOUT THE SITUATION OF HOMOSEXUALITY IN GREECE: ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ 1.: Are homosexual relationships officially recognised? No ________________________________________________________________________________________________ 2.: A) What is the legal status of sexual contacts between men? Legal ________________________________________________________________________________________________ B) What is the legal status of sexual contacts between women? Legal ________________________________________________________________________________________________ C) Is there a law governing homosexuality or are there other existing laws (such as public morality laws) that regulate homosexuality? No Article(s), content(s), penalty(ies): article 347 of the penal law (19th chapter of the "crimes against the sexual freedom and the financial exploration of the sexual life". It speaks about "debauchery": a) embezzle of dependence relationship, b)age of 17 years for men and c) speculation (prostitution)). _________________________________________________________________________________________________ D) Is there an age of consent for sexual contacts? Yes Is it the same for homosexuals as for heterosexuals? No (see 2C) the age of consent is: for: homo male 17 homo female 15 hetero male 16 hetero female 15 _________________________________________________________________________________________________ E) What is the extent of enforcement of the existing laws? a) against men prostitution (there are testimonies of police officers on TV) b) for under aged persons few ________________________________________________________________________________________________ 3.: A) Are there any organisations of homosexuals in the country? Yes If yes, what kind are they: *in two cities *homo/lesbian/bisexual _________________________________________________________________________________________________ B) Is there any gay/lesbian press? No _________________________________________________________________________________________________ C) Are there any other gay/lesbian services? Yes *If yes, what kind of? SOS-telephone, homo-library _________________________________________________________________________________________________ 4.: A) Does anti-discrimination legislation exist in your country? Yes Do provinces, states, major cities have such protection? Yes _________________________________________________________________________________________________ B) Are violations of human rights of homosexuals recorded? Yes If you happen to know of any recent violations, please write them down: discrimination in the work, in hotels again tourists, in TV _________________________________________________________________________________________________ 5.: A) Is same-sex partnership registration possible? No _________________________________________________________________________________________________ B) Do homosexuals have access to the military? Yes but the military don't ask the soldiers if they are homosexual, usually the officers don't like to know about it because in this case they have to do something. It is not known what happens with the gay/lesbian officers! _________________________________________________________________________________________________ C) Is asylum possible for those facing persecution on grounds of sexuality? A case like that is not known. D) Do homosexual couples have the same rights as heterosexual couples in the following areas? They are not registered at all, so they don't exist. *Pensions? No *Adoption? No *Artificial insemination? No (according to European Community rules there is not allowed for a women to have an artificial insemination if there is no a man who gives the paternity to the embryon (baby). It is not known, if this rule is applied in the praxis in the many private clinics). *Immigration rights? No (The country is not obliged to recognise acts which are done in an other country and they are in contrary to the laws in this country) _________________________________________________________________________________________________ E) What about homosexual prostitution? Illegal (men prostitution) _________________________________________________________________________________________________ F) Are there restrictions for HIV+ people to get in the country? No, but it happened _________________________________________________________________________________________________ G) Any other special things? Please tell us: Important is what kind of laws exist, but more important is how the existing laws are interpreted and how the "clever" conservative majority discriminates without to do something against the law. _________________________________________________________________________________________________