Out Greek Politician Stefanos Kasselakis Wants to Stir Things Up by Embracing Same-Sex Parenting

Stefanos Kasselakis, the new leader of Greece's main opposition left-wing Syriza party, wants to stir things up in the country with his personal embrace of same sex parenting. The out Kasselakis said he wants to "stir stagnant waters" and tackle the taboo subject of same-sex couples having children when he announced he and his partner planned to become parents through surrogacy, reports The Guardian.

"Kasselakis insisted his comments had aimed to give the issue visibility in a nation where LGBT rights were rarely publicly discussed."

"Love makes the family. These are issues solved in other countries, but not in Greece," the Greek American businessman wrote on Facebook late on Friday. "That's why I entered politics. To stir stagnant waters, to awaken consciences, not to caress them in their sleep."

He said that it is crucial that the desire of people who loved each other but could not easily have children was recognized, either through adoption or surrogacy.

"The 35-year-old was responding to the ferocious backlash he has faced since declaring that he and his American husband, Tyler McBeth, wanted to enlarge their family by having sons," reports The Guardian.

"Tyler and I would like to expand our family with two boys, Apollon and Elias, with a surrogate mother because we would like each of our personalities to be transferred to the children," he said in a televised interview aired late on Thursday.

He has been criticized from both sides of the political aisle, from the powerful Greek Orthodox church but also progressives in Syriza who accused them of misogyny and narcissism. Elena Akrita, a Syriza MP and vocal supporter of Kasselakis, "hit back saying rather than the 'reproduction of our DNA' it was, in her own experience as the mother of an adopted child, love and affection that counted when raising offspring."

Kasselakis said he didn't prefer one gender over the other, and says his comments come from a place of responsibility and empathy. "I expressed a wish, but do I really prefer a child to have a particular gender? This is not a matter of choice. It's a matter of responsibility and empathy. In every couple – heterosexual or same-sex – the goal is to be able to be a good parent. There are wonderful pairs of dads raising wonderful girls." But, he writes, there are "unanswered questions" as to whether he could rise to the challenge of raising a girl.

The debate over same sex couples raising children is happening in a country where same sex marriage has yet to be made legal. "While in power between 2015 and 2019 Syriza enacted cohabitation agreements for same-sex couples but stopped short of legalising same-sex marriage, a stance described as 'a mistake' by Kasselakis," writes The Guardian.

The current prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis hopes to change that: one o his first policy announcements, made within days of winning a second four-year term of office in June, was to make clear legislation to allow same sex marriage would be introduced. "Same-sex marriage will happen at some point and it's part of our strategy," he told Bloomberg TV. "Greek society is much more ready and mature."

"But while rights for LGBTQ+ people have improved since the centre-right government assumed power – with medical interventions on intersex children banned and the prohibition lifted on gay men giving blood – homophobia remains rife in a country where attacks on gay men have also risen," The Guardian concludes. "This week, Makis Voridis, a leading member of the ruling New Democracy party, underscored the resistance Mitsotakis faces, saying: 'I am opposed. I have said I will not vote [in favour of same-sex marriage].'"