I see it is natural for a greek to be interested about gay things!
it must come from the blood!.
George Micheal is Greek afterall....
The Flint Hills Observer
June 1998
Queer life in cool places
Kevyn’s semester at sea
By Kevin Jacobs
Editor's Note: Kevyn spent Fall 1997 visiting twelve countries as a participant in the Semester at Sea (SAS) program. The group of 600 students left aboard the S.S. Universe Explorer from Vancouver, Canada, on 14 September 1997, and circled the globe. As part of his on-board studies, Kevyn prepared a comparitive report on gay subcultures. This is the conclusion in a three-part series of his journey. Read Kevyn’s entire report.
CYPRUS & GREECE
Because of the similarities in culture between Greek Cyprus and Greece, I am choosing to cover both of them in the same section. There are some differences, which I will point to below, but the gay subcultures of both countries are alike enough and share enough cultural heritage, in addition to a common language, to be described together.
There are currently no laws in Greece which prohibit same-sex sexual contact, thanks in part to pressure put on Greece by the European Union, which encourages its member states to be tolerant of homosexuals. The same situation exists in Southern Cyprus, which recently repealed its anti-gay laws after pressure from the E.U., of which Cyprus wants to become a member (Gmünder, pp. 505, 171). I have no information on the status of gays in northern, Turkish Cyprus (I can only presume they are similar to those situations in the rest of the Islamic world), and so when I speak of Cyprus, I am only speaking of southern, Greek Cyprus.
Athens is the center of gay life in Greece, and is a magnet for Greek gays from all over Greece. Likewise, Limassol is the gay center of Cyprus, and also is a magnet for Greek Cypriot gays. Both cities have the highest concentration of gay bars, and the largest gay subcultures of their respective countries. Limassol, however, as a tourist town, has a high concentration of foreigners, and consequently, its gay bars tend to be more targeted at gay European tourists who come to Cyprus. Gay bars in Athens tend to be more authentically Greek.
Both countries are European in their outlook on homosexuality, meaning they are relatively progressive in their tolerance of homosexuals, relative to the rest of the world. Compared with the rest of Europe, however, Greece and Cyprus are less open and accepting, as evidenced by their having to be pressured to drop anti- gay laws by the E.U. Greek and Cypriot culture, like most of the west, are in the midst of social change in regards to attitudes about homosexuality.
"The country as a whole is more accepting of it," I was told by Christos, 38, a doctor from Athens, "But individual families aren't necessarily so." Because of the tight-knit family-clan structure and the influence of the Greek Orthodox Church, many families are conservative and don't accept it when their gay children decide to do the "modern thing" and come out. Consequently, like in urban areas all over Europe and North America, the young gay men flock to the urban areas where they can be free to live a gay life, without family pressure.
"My family doesn't know," said Petros, 32, a hotel desk clerk from Limassol. "They wouldn't understand." And since Petros' family lives in Limassol as well, it is difficult for him to feel as free about his sexuality as his friends whose families live in other parts of Cyprus. Both countries have active gay groups, but Cyprus, having a smaller population is far less involved. Greece, on the other hand, has larger and more powerful gay groups, although it still lags behind the rest of Europe and North America. Much of this has to do with the oppressive dictatorship that controlled Greece from 1967-1974.
"Life was bad for gays then, under the dictatorship," Christos told me. "Only the most effeminate were tolerated, because Greek culture saw them as having been 'born that way'," and of it being a moral problem, as non-effeminate gays were seen during that time.
It wasn't until the early 1980's, according to Christos, that homosexuality stopped being a taboo subject. At that time, AIDS had hit, and people were forced to start acknowledging homosexuality. It wasn't until 1976 that the first gay bar opened in Athens. Today, however, in both Cyprus and Greece, homosexuality is talked about openly, thanks in large part to the massive information and education campaigns which have been waged in both countries to fight AIDS.
"Cyprus has changed since the mid-1970's, when I arrived here," I was told by Hank, 42, a Dutch expatriate living in Limassol. "Back then, the Islamic Turkish influence on Cypriot culture was much more prevalent. Straight men would flirt with you, even have sex with you. Today, however, the dichotomy between straight and gay is much stronger."
Greek and Cypriot gays are also optimistic about the future, with the cultural influence of the E.U. In both Greece and Cyprus, gays told me that they thought that the E.U. would eventually allow them to marry, a prospect that even many American gays don't see in the near future.
It is interesting to note that things are coming full-circle for Greek gays. Historically, Greece and its territories (like Cyprus) had thriving gay cultures. In ancient Greece, it was common, even expected, for a young, unmarried man in the upper classes to take a male lover until he married. Even Greek mythology has examples of this. For instance, Zeus, the king of the gods notorious for his sexual appetites, took Ganymede, a boy, as a lover. But the arrival of Christianity,
and later the conquest of Greece and Cyprus by Islamic Turks, ended this golden age of tolerance. It is only now, in the 20th century, that these two countries are returning to a level of acceptance of same-sex relationships. www.debtaylor.com/fho/069805.html