A law allowing Greek citizens the right to change their gender identity on official documents was passed on Tuesday by 171 lawmakers in the 300-MP Parliament, amid heightened criticism that the contentious issue was merely used as a diversionary tactic by the embattled government to shift the focus from biting austerity.
As expected, media scrutiny shifted directly to the complex gender recognition question during the run-up to the tabling and debate of the bill in the Greek Parliament, with the country’s dominant Orthodox Church coming out in opposition and human rights groups in favor.
One of the more sensitive points in the new bill allows for minors as young as 15 to enjoy the right to petition to alter their gender ID, albeit with a court ruling necessary to approve the change. Additionally, a person will have the right to change their gender recognition twice – male to female and back again, for instance.
Beyond specific provisions in the groundbreaking law, the opposition pointed to a conscious attempt at diverting public opinion from a “tax tsunami” imposed in Greece by the leftist-rightist coalition government in 2016 – as opposed to deeper spending cuts – in order to meet memorandum-mandated fiscal targets all the way to 2022.
The embattled coalition’s cohesion was also put to a test, as the junior partner in the mostly leftist government is the small rightist-populist Independent Greeks (AN.EL) party. The latter promotes itself as a conservative, family values-oriented grouping, with its MPs, for instance, voting down the article allowing minors to petition for a different gender recognition.
