Greece legalises same sex marriage in landmark change

Greece's parliament approves bill allowing same-sex civil marriage, a historic victory for LGBT rights in the country.

Greece's parliament approved a bill allowing same-sex civil marriage on Thursday, a landmark victory for supporters of LGBT rights that was greeted with cheers by onlookers in parliament and dozens gathered on the streets of Athens.

The law gives same-sex couples the right to wed and adopt children and comes after decades of campaigning by the LGBT community for marriage equality in the socially conservative country.

Greece is one of the first Orthodox Christian countries to allow such unions.

"This is a historic moment," Stella Belia, the head of same-sex parents group Rainbow Families, told Reuters. "This is a day of joy."

The bill was approved by 176 lawmakers in the 300-seat parliament and will become law when its published in the official government gazette.

Although members of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis' centre-right New Democracy party abstained or voted against the bill, it gained enough support from the leftist opposition in a rare show of cross-party unity despite a tense debate.

"Its a very important step for human rights, a very important step for equality, and a very important step for Greek society," said 40-year-old Nikos Nikolaidis, a historian who joined a rally in favour of the bill ahead of the vote.