It will be up to my ex-partner to allow me to do so (or not), unless we sign a private contract of some sort and have it notarised but still, such contracts aren’t legally recognised by the State. If for any reason my partner and I choose to separate, I won’t have the right to see my son. So, all of us, including myself, as an “invisible” parent, aren’t covered by the existing laws. It is more like hosting a child for a specific period of time and no parties have any rights. They can only become foster parents, which is rather different. If two same-sex people living in civil partnership want to adopt a child legally, they can’t. The only available option in order to declare their status is civil partnership. A same-sex couple isn’t recognised nor can they marry. The current situation regarding same-sex families is that one parent is the child’s natural parent or the one that has legal custody – as is the case with us, Giorgos has legal custody of our son – and the other is “invisible” since there’s no legal framework in Greece at the moment covering them. Still, if there’s a separation in a same-sex couple or if one of the parents dies – both of which aren’t unlikely to happen as they’re part of life – then it’s a whole other matter. On the other hand, we’ve been lucky enough not to have had to face any unforeseen troubles to this day. We’re a family just like any other – with the same worries, the same stress, the same love. In our everyday lives, to talk about our family in particular, things are pretty regular. What are the difficulties that a same-sex couple with children have to face in their everyday life due to the lack of legal recognition of their right to marry, adopt, co-parent and share custody? I believe that this is where we’re headed.” Overall, he remains positive: “If we embrace ourselves and we’re not embarrassed of who we are, then little by little, piece by piece, the whole of society can change, one neighbourhood at a time. He states that a bill regarding same-sex civil marriage should entail the right to same-sex adoption. Economou talks about the worries and difficulties that “invisible” parents have to face and also about what the possible repercussions in a child’s life are, due to the fact that the State won’t recognise both parents in cases of same-sex adoption.
Michalis Economou and his partner, Giorgos Makris, have been raising their son Nikiforos together for the past four years. What is it like to be an LGBTQI+ family in Greece in 2022 and fight for the right to be recognised as such? Is society “ready” to accept civil marriage and same-sex adoption or is the State hiding behind arguments to the contrary in order to justify its negligence when it comes to securing equal rights for all its citizens? Eteron interviewed the well-known actor, Michalis Economou, and talked about such issues, among others.
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