Reality and its representation
Conservative Greeks love to laugh along with male actors (moustached and hairy-legged) dressed as women, prancing about in the wealth of revue-type theatre productions that mercilessly satirise politicians, other figures in the public eye, recent events and Greek society in general.
Trite gay characters frequently appear in such send-ups, which act as a vent of frustration for the masses, and whose origins date back to the satirical plays of ancient Greece. “It’s far more vulgar to repeatedly show the effeminate gay stereotype, of the shrill-voiced and foppish man, on ‘family-oriented’ programs,” television critic Marianna Tziantzi wrote in Kathimerini.
The difference in this case is that the relationship between two gay males was embodied in a “serious” setting, in a drama viewed by both young and old. According to one school of thought, such programs contribute to the shaping of social mores and values.
Although Greece’s Archbishop Christodoulos has made attempts to portray himself as an open-minded representative of Orthodoxy, the church still views homosexuality as an aberration.
In 2000, Christodoulos said that granting gay partners marriage status would be “legalizing a sin”, while he urged compassion for all human “weaknesses”. He was responding to the European Parliament’s non-binding resolution that encouraged European Union nations to extend rights enjoyed by heterosexual couples to one-parent families, unmarried couples and same-sex couples.
In classical Greek art and literature, same-sex romantic love was a common theme, with decorative ceramics frequently featuring homoerotic scenes . Nowadays, however, few individuals in the public eye openly proclaim to be homosexual though the Greek gay scene has spread its wings.
Nonetheless, the Cycladic island of Mykonos has long been a magnet for the international gay community, while the northeastern Aegean island of Lesvos draws growing numbers of lesbian tourists wishing to pay homage to ancient homosexual poetess Sappho
