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Greek Lesbian Couple To Test Marriage Law

By gregladen on March 14, 2008.

A lesbian couple will become the first same-sex couple in Greece to marry when they exchange vows in a civil ceremony next week in an Athens suburb.

The LGBT rights group OLKE said Thursday it had found a loophole in a 26 year old update of the Greek civil marriage law that refers only to participating "persons," without specifying gender.

OLKE said that by not naming gender the law, albeit inadvertently, allows same-sex marriage.

The organization did not name the lesbians who will test the law, but said that the left-of-center mayor of the Athens suburb of Kessariani has agreed to perform the ceremony.

"I have no objection to celebrating this union so long as the law is respected," the mayor, Spyros Tzokas, told the Ta Nea daily.

Had the group not found a friendly mayor it was prepared to go to court.

"If the (municipalities) don't give us the OK, the next step will be legal action," OLKE spokeswoman Evangelia Vlami told The Associated Press.

Read the rest here.

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Yay for equality by carelessness! I really hope it works.
Interestingly, Britain never had rules against lesbianism or a lesbian age of consent, because Queen Victoria didn't believe it could exist.