By Hilary White
RHODES, Greece, May 6, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A Greek court in Rhodes has ruled that same-sex “marriages,” created by a loophole in the law, are invalid.
The civil marriage law failed to specify that the two parties in a wedding ceremony had to be male and female, a loophole that was exploited by homosexual activists last year. Last June, two pairs of homosexuals, one male, one female, were “married” by the local mayor in Tilos, Tassos Aliferis.
A court official who spoke on condition of anonymity, told media, “The decision sides by the prosecutor’s request to annul the marriages because the spirit of the Constitution defines marriage as matrimony between a man and a woman with the intent of forming a family.”
The homosexual activists who undertook the ceremony, have said they will take their case against the Greek government to the European Court of Justice.
Their lawyer, Vassilis Hirdaris, told Reuters news service, “The court said the weddings were invalid. We will appeal within May – but I fear the appeal court’s decision won’t be differrent, considering how conservative Greek courts are.”
The Greek civil union law, which affords some legal rights to unmarried, cohabitating couples, is said to be the only such law in the world that applies only to opposite-sex couples.