“To the child I am his father, but legally I am nothing”
The Prime Minister of Greece, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, gave more clarifications yesterday about the bill regarding the extension of civil marriage to same-sex couples as well as childbearing.
For all the reactions that were provoked about the issues, the actor Mihalis Oikonomou spoke on the morning of Thursday, January 11 on the show “Mega Kalimera”, who among other things referred to the signing of a cohabitation agreement with his husband, Giorgos Makris, and to the child they grow up together.
Initially about the civil marriage he said: “The point is the civil marriage which gives extra rights, consequently also the adoption, in which this is what we will proceed with because I am an invisible parent at the moment, I do not have any legal relationship with the child.We cannot adopt today. This is what we ask to be done. I am raising him, I am his father to the child, but legally I am nothing to the child. This will be given to us by the civil marriage, through which I will also be able to become a parent through the adoption we will make. At the moment only George has custody of the child, he is his legal parent and father . today.We are very well trained in this and yes, it might hurt us, but we get by. The issue is the child. Can the child be protected, can the State secure both of its parents so that, yes, we are lucky now that nothing bad has happened, but in a same-sex family as it is today the things that always one of the two parents has custody, he is vested. The other, who grows up with the child every day and is the second dad or the second mom, is currently the invisible parent. That's why we ask for this bill to go, for the children”.
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Then he added: “We answer everything he asks, we don't hide anything from him. For us it does not create stress because it is our everyday life. We answer him simply, with love and to the extent that the child can understand why he doesn't grow up with mom and why he grows up with us.We go to the cribs and sometimes a lady might ask him 'where are you going alone, where is your mum' because she hasn't seen us, and she answers that I have 'two dads, I don't have a mum'. The child is more aware of society. Neither at school, nor at the instrument he goes to, nor at the pool, nor at parties, nor in public places where people have seen us, he has not been surprised. It may have been a bit abrupt for the little one to say 'I have two daddies' but we have never received a derogatory look or a bitter comment.
What they say and produce statistics that the people are not ready, they are not in favor, etc., I think it is reasonable that a person who comes to you with a leaflet and asks you 'are you in favor of procreation for same-sex couples', if you are a bit stuck it is very likely that you will answer no.But if someone lives next to us and sees the daily stories at work, at school and looks us in the face, his doubts are immediately dispelled because he sees us as a normal family, we are not aliens”.
On his decision to raise a child with his husband, he revealed: “There were thousands of voices but what came out quickly was that this child from the moment we have the possibility, we don't want him to stay in an institution, because in this particular case that would be his end and I don't know how he would continue from there . Let's save a child. And for us it was a kind of discovery, a kind of pregnancy. It was revealed little by little through the eyes of the child himself. This decision came after a lot of talking and serious discussions with people who could support us psychologically, familially, and friendly. It wasn't just let's go do it”.
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As for how his parents reacted, the actor was moved by revealing that: “My parents are helping to raise the child, but they too have traveled many kilometers from denial, doubt. They had a lot of difficulty, they told me don't go on TV, you'll be branded, you'll lose jobs, they'll ask you just for that, but they were slowly convinced too. It is a path that I have taken, with all the risks that this may have… Let the world understand that we are not aliens, that we do not threaten any kind of nuclear family. If the bill is passed, the whole nation will not run to to become same-sex families.
We are some thousands of families in Greece, a minority who are asking for the bill to be passed so that our children can settle down. We will not attack any kind of nuclear family, any Church, I am also a person who goes to church, nothing will change. I did not expect anything different from the Church, it has always reacted, it does not surprise me. I would expect, as he shouts about all the things he shouts sometimes sharply and offensively, that he would have the same disposition to find a paternal embrace and a pastoral way to embrace the people among us who also want to be in the Church”.
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