Greece’s gay Syriza leader says he told of plans to become parent to ‘stir’ debate
Greece’s first openly gay political party leader says he was deliberately trying to “stir stagnant waters” and tackle the taboo subject of same-sex couples having children when he announced he and his partner planned to become parents through surrogacy.
Weeks after his unexpected election to the helm of the main opposition left-wing Syriza, Stefanos Kasselakis insisted his comments had aimed to give the issue visibility in a nation where LGBT rights were rarely publicly discussed.
“Love makes the family. These are issues solved in other countries, but not in Greece,” the Greek American businessman wrote on Facebook late on Friday. “That’s why I entered politics. To stir stagnant waters, to awaken consciences, not to caress them in their sleep.”
Whether through adoption or surrogacy it was crucial that the desire of people who loved each other but could not easily have children was recognised, he said.
The 35-year-old was responding to the ferocious backlash he has faced since declaring that he and his American husband, Tyler McBeth, wanted to enlarge their family by having sons.
“Tyler and I would like to expand our family with two boys, Apollon and Elias, with a surrogate mother because we would like each of our personalities to be transferred to the children,” he said in a televised interview aired late on Thursday.
Criticism has not only come from social conservatives in a society heavily influenced by the powerful Greek Orthodox church but progressives in Syriza amid accusations of misogyny and narcissism.
Leading the charge, Elena Akrita, a Syriza MP and vocal supporter of Kasselakis despite the controversy over the former shipping executive’s surprise leadership candidacy, hit back saying rather than the “reproduction of our DNA” it was in her own experience, as the mother of an adopted child, love and affection that counted when raising offspring.
As the outcry mounted, Kasselakis denied that he preferred “a particular gender” saying his comments had been spurred by what he described as a sense of responsibility and empathy. “I expressed a wish, but do I really prefer a child to have a particular gender? This is not a matter of choice. It’s a matter of responsibility and empathy. In every couple – heterosexual or same-sex – the goal is to be able to be a good parent. There are wonderful pairs of dads raising wonderful girls.”
In his case, he wrote, there were “unanswered questions” as to whether he could rise to the challenge of raising a girl.
While in power between 2015 and 2019 Syriza enacted cohabitation agreements for same-sex couples but stopped short of legalising same-sex marriage, a stance described as “a mistake” by Kasselakis.
One of prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’s first policy announcements, made within days of winning a second four-year term of office in June, was to make clear it would be introduced.
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“Same-sex marriage will happen at some point and it’s part of our strategy,” he told Bloomberg TV. “Greek society is much more ready and mature.”
But while rights for LGBTQ+ people have improved since the centre-right government assumed power – with medical interventions on intersex children banned and the prohibition lifted on gay men giving blood – homophobia remains rife in a country where attacks on gay men have also risen. This week, Makis Voridis, a leading member of the ruling New Democracy party, underscored the resistance Mitsotakis faces, saying: “I am opposed. I have said I will not vote [in favour of same-sex marriage].”
Kasselakis has also faced criticism of being too “homo-normative” from LGBTQ+ solidarity groups in Greece. “He has not been vocal at all around queer or trans rights,” said Nancy Papathanasiou, a clinical psychologist and co-founder of the Orlando group which advocates for LGBTQI mental health affirmative services.
“He has every right to express his desire to have children but his being in a position of political leadership now calls for a more nuanced approach to parenthood in general,” she said.