First same-sex couple gets married at Athens city hall

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(8 Mar 2024)
FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: 4482048

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Athens, Greece - 07 March 2024
1. Wide of Athens Mayor Haris Doukas, left, officiating wedding with UPSOUND of mayor asking (Greek) “Anastasios do you want Petros to be your husband?” with Samouilidis replying (Greek) “I do;” mayor asks the same of Hadjopoulos to which he replies (Greek) “Always. I do. Yes.”

HEADLINE: First same-sex couple married at Athens city hall

ANNOTATION: A novelist and a lawyer have become the first gay couple to be married in Athens city hall, three weeks after Greece legalized same-sex marriage.

2. Close-up of couple exchanging rings

ANNOTATION: Petros Hadjopoulos, who writes under the pen name Auguste Corteau, and Anastasios Samouilidis tied the knot in the witness of two dozen guests.

3. Wide of couple kissing to applause from guests
4. SOUNDBITE (Greek) Petros Hadjopoulos, groom:
++SOUNDBITE PARTLY OVERLAID WITH SHOT 5++
“It is a day of celebration, a day of joy, a day of great love, a dream we did not dare entertain when we were in our teens. Yet today we celebrate 20 years of life together, 20 years of love by becoming legal spouses."
5. Various of couple signing documents
6. Couple taking a selfie with guests
7. Woman wipes tears

ANNOTATION: Greek lawmakers approved same-sex marriage in a vote on Feb. 15, despite strong opposition from the country's socially conservative Orthodox Church.

8. Couple take photo with Athens mayor
9. Greek and EU flags
10. SOUNDBITE (Greek) Haris Doukas, Athens mayor:
++SOUNDBITE STARTS ON SHOT 8 AND 9
"It is our duty for every citizen of Athens to be able to live and love in the way they choose, and it is for this reason that we proceed with great courage in these actions."
11. Various of couple leaving city hall with their dog

ANNOTATION: Greece is the first majority Orthodox Christian country to allow same-sex marriage. It legalized same-sex civil unions nearly a decade ago.
STORYLINE:
A novelist and a lawyer have become the first gay couple to be married in Athens city hall, three weeks after Greece legalizes same-sex marriage.

Petros Hadjopoulos, who writes under the pen name Auguste Corteau, and Anastasios Samouilidis tied the knot in the witness of two dozen guests.

Greek lawmakers approved same-sex marriage in a vote on Feb. 15, despite strong opposition from the country's socially conservative Orthodox Church.

The law also confers full parental rights on married same-sex partners with children, but precludes gay couples from parenthood through surrogacy, an option currently available to women who can’t have children for health reasons.

Greece is the first majority Orthodox Christian country to allow same-sex marriage. It legalized same-sex civil unions nearly a decade ago.

AP Video by Srdjan Nedeljkovic
Production by Lefteris Pitarakis and Theodora Tongas

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