Group of Greek priests asks government not to legalise "third gender"

The text of the appeal was published by Ekklisia Online. Also Orthodox Christianity was reporting about it.

According to the Greek City Times, the first steps towards the recognition of the "third gender" were taken by Aristotle University in Thessaloniki, which added "other" to the gender options on training centre application forms, also reports Orthodox Life. The current "Say Yes!" campaign is also actively pushing for "marriage equality" in Greece.

"Small minorities, well organised and having broad access to both print and electronic forms of mass media, have been pushing government and parties for years to recognise their sexual deviations legally," seven priests write to PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

There is no third sex, letter says

Even Christians with a casual relationship with the Church know that God created two sexes, and there is no third, the letter reads.

"According to the natural order established by God, a man is attracted to a woman, and a woman is attracted to a man. This attraction opens the way to marriage, which in the Christian Church is considered the 'Great Sacrament,' the secret of love, the source and cradle of human life and the path leading spouses and their children to Christian perfection," the priests write. Together with the Roman Catholic Church, the Orthodox Church sees marriage as a sacrament.

The Church considers the family to be a tiny home church. Therefore, "it's quite natural that the Church wouldn't accept any union apart from a blessed Christian marriage."

The Orthodox Church in Greece sees homosexuality not as a "legitimate sexual choice, but a deviation and perversion of nature."

"This, according to the Apostle Paul, a grave, mortal sin of the flesh, which, if the person who committed it doesn't repent, excludes him from the Kingdom of God," the priests write.

The Church (as a mother) cannot compromise with sin but patiently prays for the return of its children, they emphasise.

Greek civil partnerships

In December 2015, the Greek Parliament legalised civil partnerships for gay couples. In October 2017, it adopted the "On the Legal Recognition of Gender Identity" law, allowing anyone 15 or older to change their gender by written declaration.