Date: Wed, 19 Jan 1994 18:50:47 -0800 (PST) From: Bob Beer Subject: Gay Life in Greece (long) GREECE I lived in Greece for several years and returned in 1985. Although I have not been back since then, the laws and general treatment are the same if my contacts there can be trusted. This is a long article, because in addition to the specific legal points, I also deal with how gays are treated *in practice*, and how Greek society perceives homosexuality. This is not strictly a political/legal matter, but it gives insight into why things are as they are. I deal with the legal aspects first; if you aren't interested in the rest you can ignore it. I also don't say anything about lesbians because I didn't have much experience with them. They did not go to bars (except one woman I met, who had some good gay friends). There was one bar that was reputedly a lesbian bar, but I never saw many people there. This could have changed by now. Greece is a country that until recently in its history was mostly an agrarian area. In what is now Greece, there was no urban greek culture for over 500 years; the major greek urban centers were in Turkey (Izmir, Istanbul) when Greece put itself together as a country piece by piece as the Ottoman empire collapsed. So although Athens is a city of over 4000 people, it is in many ways a collection of villages, and most Athenians keep contact with their villages and return frequently. The fact that it is a country that is 98% Eastern Orthodox, and which spent 500 years under the Turks says a lot about modern Greek culture. Homosexuality is perceived in terms of acts, not as any kind of identity as we know it. Typically people take part in many different sexual acts, and as long as they are not talked about, and are not made public thereby shaming the family, they are not of much consequence, and gossip can go both ways, so even though someone might be known to do such and such, the general way in the villages was "live and let live," because everyone had their own skeletons in their closets too. As long as one marries and has kids, fulfilling these obligations, people just don't ask (although they definitely do talk!) But the idea of proudly proclaming onself to be a "homosexual" is rather bizarre to most folks. > 1) Gay Rights law? No specific gay rights law. There is no law against homosexual acts. However, there is also no law specifically protecting a gay person from discrimination. > 2) Same-sex relations legal/illegal? sexual relations between consenting adults are legal at age 17. > 3) public pride celebrations? Not sure about this one...there are two gay magazines. The older of the two is AMFI, put out by A.K.O.E. (Movement for the Liberation of Homosexuals of Greece). When I was there, AKOE was not a particularly strong group. It was in the throes of a fight with one member, "Paola," a former transvestite (who published another magazine called "kraximo" (scream - here specifically referring to yelling a public "outing" on the street). The fight was about whether or not Paola should be allowed to bring pickups into the AKOE offices. She was not allowed to of course, but she didn't accept it, broke the windows and locks, etc. The last time I tried to write to AKOE, they had moved and given no forwarding address. Their activities were: publication of AMFI, weekly discussion groups, a gay hotline (often called by men looking for company), and frequent rebuttals to homophobic newspaper articles in the Greek press. > 4) gay marriage? No. > 5) gay adopion/parenting/artificial insemination? No > 6) immigration issues? As homosexuality is not illegal in Greece, it isn't an issue unless someone wants it to be; they would trump up another charge if they wanted you out of the country. -- Although the laws themselves as they affect homosexuals are not oppressive, in practice life is not so free. Modern Greek society is extremely homophobic, and adheres to the typical Mediterranean/Mid-eastern concepts about what a homosexual is. In this society (and in Turkey, Arab countries, etc) there is no exact concept of "homosexual" as we use it. There is the "Poustis" (the passive one in anal intercourse) and the "Kolombaras" (the active one). To understand the implications of this, one has to have an idea of Greek "honor" (filotimo). This is analogous to "machismo" in latino cultures, as they understand the word, not as "just being 'masculine'" as it is interpreted here. Basically, one keeps one's masculine honor at the expense of another. As sex has to have an object, and sex is viewed usually as a "conquest." A man who willingly "allows himself to be conquered by another man" is giving up his filotimo willingly. This makes him the object of derision. On the other hand the "kolombaras" is in a way "super masculine" because he not only conquers women, but other men as well. I heard straight guys approving with wonder a known "kolombaras," saying basically "he can f... anything." Most greeks, when they hear the greek translation of "homosexual," (omofilofilos), think "poustis." Therefore you will find many men who will take the "active" role, who will not identify as gay. To many Greeks, gay or straight, the idea of two "real men" in a relationship where one isn't "playing the woman" is rather alien. This is changing though with more contact with people from the U.S. and western Europe. Police regularly go into bars and harass patrons. The usual method is to ask for identification (which all must carry in Greece). Usually they will find a few people who forgot to take their id card, and under the pretext of investigating some alleged crime, they take them in to the station. This happend to me once, the alleged crime was that a man had taken another man from that bar up to the forest on Lycavitos hill and robbed and killed him. Eight of us were arrested; 6 Greeks, me, and an employee of the Brazillian embassy. Each of us was individually accused, asked if we did it, and when we said "no," the officer asked "well who did, me?" We then had to stay in the station till 5:00 while they called in to the central station at Mesogeio, to see if we had any records. Conveniently it came in at 5:00 a.m. (we were arrested at about 11:00). It later turned out that there was a man beat up on the hill, he was an English tourist, his assailant was from Ghana, the man was injured, but not killed. One of the people in our group was outspoken and urged everyone to report this action, as it was unconstitutional and illegal, but nobody would - I because it could get me deported, the Brazillian because it could cost him his job, and the other Greeks because the police would likely contact their families and employers. Many men I met in the bars there, especially those from rural areas, were constantly on edge at the thought of being reported. Some of this fear was from earlier days when a man caught in a gay situation would have that on his record, and printed on his government ID card which one has to use all the time. Many were unaware that this practice had ended. Before there were any bars (the bar is not a Greek tradition), there were certain "tavernas" - restaurants, that were known to have a gay clientele, and also much anonymous contact. Gays met gays mostly through discrete groups of friends. There were such a marginalized group of people that they had their own elaborate slang - not just a few phrases, but a whold "gay language" with differences in basic verbs, grammar, etc. This language is called "kalliarda," and is documented by sociologist Ilias Petropoulos in a book on the subject. (His book, by the way, was banned in greece for several years.) It has a vocabulary of several *thousand* words, and often greeks who hear it will not recognize it as a language they are familiar with. A very large percentage of the vocabulare is comprised of Romany (gypsy) loanwords. Nowadays not many younger gays really are fluent in kalliarda, but know many key phrases and words. An example: The phrase "I like the guy sitting two seats down from me" = (greek) Mou aresei poly o paradhiplanos (kalliarda) Latsevo ton apokate sto bout. It is actually a very rich argot, with little poems and songs, its own curses, etc., and was the way homosexual men could talk about what they wanted to without being found out. The general idea of the public is that homosexuals spread diseases, and conspire to recuit young boys. To be honest, I did meet many more pederasts there than I did here, though they were not any kind of majority. I also met several young gay men who were attracted only to men in their 40s or older. I believe this is in part because of the general attitude toward sex as a stronger vs weaker relationship, and also because until recently, there was no way two men could realistically have an open relationship. The press is constantly referring to homosexuals as "marginal types." Many young gays have a high degree of hate for themselves, and many commit suicide. A gay friend of mine there (who himself attempted 3 times to kill himself before he accepted his sexuality) told of a friend who was very loved in the neighborhood. This boy killed himself, and his suicide note said "there was no other way. I am homosexual." My friend was devastated; his mother told him "A dog doesn't deserve your pity. Better that he cleansed society of himself, otherwise he would go out and make other little boys like himself." There is also much transvestitism. This is not usually (there are exceptions) a thing done for performance or "for fun," as in the west, most transvestites there are prostitutes and work in a couple of well-known areas. Paola told me that a large percentage of her patrons were "straight" acting men who wanted to be the passive partner, but could not imagine themselves actually with a man, or consider themselves "homosexuals." Things are changing in Greece however. The first time I was there, the only meeting places for gay men other than parks and urinals were in the Plaka; the old section of Athens -- mainly a tourist district. When I returned in '83, there was only one left there, and it later closed. The "gay" district is now Kolonaki, a "chic" area of Athens. In 1985, there were only about 5 bars in Athens; now there are easily twice that many. Many younger Greek gays complained often about the roll playing that was so prevalent in Greek gay life, as did the Greeks who had lived outside the country. Gay life as an actual visible phenomenon is turning from something "brought in by foreign tourists" to something possible for the average Greek man.