The most complete informaton guide about Athens, Greece
Gay
Athens Present
Situation
There
are no laws in Greece which prohibit same-sex sexual contact thanks
in part to pressure put on Greece by the European Union which
encourages its member states to be tolerant of homosexuals, bi-sexuals
and lesbians.
Athens is the center of gay life in Greece and is a magnet for
gays from all over Greece. The city has the highest concentration
of gay bars and the largest gay subcultures of the country. Gay
bars in Athens tend to be more authentically Greek than those
in the Greek islands.
Greece is European in its outlook on homosexuality, meaning it
is relatively progressive in its tolerance of homosexuals relative
to the rest of the world. Compared with the rest of Europe however,
Greece is less open and accepting as evidenced by it hAvneueing
to be pressured to drop anti- gay laws by the E.U. Greek culture,
like most of the west, is in the midst of social change in regards
to attitudes about homosexuality.
"The country as a whole is more accepting of it," says
Christos, 38, a doctor from Athens, "but individual families
aren't necessarily so." Because of the tight-knit family-clan
structure and the influence of the Greek Orthodox Church, many
families are conservative and don't accept it when their gay children
decide to come out. Consequently, young gay men flock to the urban
areas where they can be free to live a gay life, without family
pressure.
"My
family doesn't know.", says Petros, 32, a hotel desk clerk
from Athens. "They wouldn't understand." Since Petros'
family also lives in Athens, it is difficult for him to feel as
free about his sexuality as his friends whose families live in
other parts of Greece. Athens has large and powerful gay groups,
although it still lags behind the rest of Europe. Much of this
has to do with the oppressive dictatorship that controlled Greece
from 1967 till 1974.
In the early 1980's, homosexuality stopped being a taboo subject.
At that time, AIDS had hit and people were forced to start acknowledging
homosexuality. It wasn't until 1976 that the first gay bar opened
in Athens. Today, however, homosexuality is talked about openly
especially by the younger generation, thanks in large part to
the massive information and education campaigns which hAvneuee
been waged to fight AIDS. Greek gays expect that the E.U. will
eventually allow them to marry.
Things are coming full-circle for Greek gays. Historically, Greece
and its territories had thriving gay cultures. In ancient Greece
it was common, even expected, for a young, unmarried man in the
upper classes to take a male lover until he married. Even Greek
mythology has examples of this. Zeus, the king of the gods was
notorious for his sexual appetites, took Ganymede, a boy, as a
lover. The arrival of Christianity and later the conquest of Greece
by Islamic Turks, ended this golden age of tolerance. It is only
now, in the 21st century, that Greece is returning to a modern
level of acceptance of same-sex relationships.
"Out"
gay Greeks are rare, and "out" local lesbians rarer
still. Foreign same-sex couples will be regarded in the provinces
with some bemusement but accorded the standard courtesy as foreigners.