In a garden in the north part of Athens, a four-year-old named Niovi pretends to run a shop and sells imaginary cakes.
Christina and Victoria may soon see their dream come true as Greece is close to making same-sex marriage legal for them.
The Parliament will decide on the bill presented by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Thursday. He will have to get support from the left-wing opposition because some people in his own party disagree.
Christina and Victoria will be inside the chamber, hoping for it to pass. Two years ago, they came back to Greece from the UK, where they had gone for work and to be together without any restrictions.
They got married in the UK and their daughter, Niovi, was born there. If the law is approved, they want their marriage to be legal in Greece.
I don’t have a voice.
After Niovi was born in London, her parents tried to officially record her as a Greek citizen at the Greek embassy, but they were turned away. Christina remembers someone saying, “You should have thought before having her. ”
“It was really bad, I cried in the car for 45 minutes and couldn’t stop. It still brings back bad memories,” Victoria says, tears filling her eyes. “It feels like your own country doesn’t want you. ”
In Greece, the law doesn’t recognize Christina and Victoria as married. Because of this, only Victoria is considered Niovi’s mother, even though Christina provided the egg for Niovi’s birth.
In school, she can’t make decisions and when Niovi was in the hospital, Christina wasn’t allowed to go in her room.
“I am really scared that if something terrible happens to Victoria and she passes away, our child will have to go to social services. They will then check if any of Victoria’s family members want to take care of her,” she said.
“If they don’t, she will have to go to a place for help. ” I cannot make a choice. So the child wouldn’t just lose one mother, she would lose both of us.
The Church disagrees or goes against something.
Fifteen out of the 27 countries in the European Union have made same-sex marriage legal. It is allowed in 35 countries around the world.
Greece has not kept up with other countries in Europe because its strong church has been against changes. If the law is accepted this week, it will be the first country where most people are Christian Orthodox, and the first in the southeastern part of Europe, to allow marriage for everyone.
Gay couples can adopt children, but they cannot have a baby through a surrogate. Only straight couples with a medical need can do that.
“Greece is located in the southeast, but its culture and politics are more aligned with the West,” according to Alex Patelis, who is the prime minister’s top economic advisor and also part of the committee that worked on the marriage bill.
Mr Mitsotakis won the election easily and is now dealing with a weak opposing party. This gives him the opportunity to focus on their issues without hurting his own chances of staying in power.
Mr Patel says that the bill is very important to the Prime Minister’s beliefs. It’s often believed that human rights and equality are only cared about by left-wing parties, but this bill shows that it’s important to everyone. This is from a center-right political party. It’s important to know that equality and individual rights are also beliefs of the right-wing.
There are two different groups in Greek society. A recent survey for Proto Thema newspaper shows that 55% of people support same-sex marriage and a slightly smaller majority support adoption by same-sex couples.
About 50 out of the 158 MPs in Mr. Mitsotakis’s party are expected to either vote against the bill or not be present during the vote.
The Church of Greece doesn’t like the change. They read a letter during church to say that it would be bad for children if same-sex couples can have children. They think it puts the feelings of gay adults before the needs of kids.
Bishop Seraphim of Piraeus has been one of the most vocal religious leaders. We watched the priest leading a busy church service at Agii Anargiri Church in the city. People were dressed nicely and kissing icons and bowing their heads.
He said he would stop MPs who support the bill from coming to his church, and he wishes they were never born.
He said he won’t baptize kids with same-sex parents because he wants to show them that their parents’ actions are wrong.
People are gathered outside parliament in Syntagma Square to protest against a bill. They have banners that say “No children for perverts” and are yelling “Take your hands off our kids”.
A video has images of religious symbols and also has Bill Gates in it. Some people think that Greece is being controlled by a powerful group, and this idea is mixed with the beliefs of traditional Greeks who feel like their customs are being ruined.
Rallou Perperidou says the Bible states that marriage should be between a man and a woman, and anything else is considered a serious sin.
God destroyed people who were practicing homosexuality, like he destroyed the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. God will forgive them if they admit they did something wrong and stop doing it.
Kyriaki Chantzara, who is 38 years old, is at the protest with her sister, who is going to have her tenth baby.
“Gay people can’t be good role models for kids because we believe it’s important for them to have both a mom and a dad as examples. ” “Every child has the right to have a dad and a mom,” she says.
In the north of Athens, Niovi, who is four years old, is practicing her English by singing nursery rhymes. Her mom helps her as she reads “Hickory Dickory Dock, the mouse ran up the clock. ”
As the parliamentary vote gets closer, the women are getting more and more excited. Christina says she is very happy.
“It’s the beginning of recognizing and appreciating all kinds of people in our country, and understanding that everyone deserves the same rights. ” This will be real for us because I am Niovi’s mother, and the law should support this. The law will make the truth clear.