Greece sees first same sex marriages

3 Jun 2008

The mayor of a Greek island has defied the threat of prosecution to carry out the country's first gay "marriages".

Two men and two women were married by Mayor Tassos Alfieris in the ceremonies on the eastern Aegean island of Tilos.

Mr Alfieris conducted the proceedings despite Greece's top prosecutor having issued a directive saying that same-sex weddings were outlawed.

One of the women involved, Evangelia Vlami, was bubbling with excitement as she told the BBC she was "so happy".

"From this day, discrimination against gays in Greece is on the decline. We did this to encourage other gay people to take a stand," she said after the ceremony held at sunrise on Tuesday.

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