TRANSSEXUALS will not be allowed to marry in Cyprus, a member of the House Legal Affairs Committee insisted yesterday.
Following EU harmonisation directives, the committee was asked to examine and regulate the law on civil marriages before the end of the year, AKEL deputy Akis Agapiou said yesterday.
According to reports, the committee was faced with a dilemma concerning civil marriages between transsexuals. Specifically, the deputies discussed to what extent a person born of one sex, but undergoing surgery to become another, could then marry. Agapiou said they could not.
How is the civil wedding defined in Cyprus? “It is a marriage between a man and woman as we know them today,” said Agapiou. In other words, the legal binding between two individuals of the opposite sex, that were born that way, he said.
What if the couple did not mention one of the partners had had a sex change?
“In order to get married, the couple must produce documentation proving who they are, including birth certificates. If they decide to give false papers – which is illegal – with the intention of duping the courts, then that is up to them. We will not be able to do anything about it, because we will not know. However, it is not something we will accept,” he said.
As for homosexual civil weddings, they will not be taking place for quite some time, although Agapiou said he hoped homosexual groups on the island wouldn’t pose a problem to the contrary.
“We have to take things one day at a time. Change takes place over time and very slowly, not overnight. Most European countries do not yet accept marriages between same sex couples and they are considered far more forward thinking than Cypriot society is,” he told the Cyprus Mail.
“Nothing is going to change concerning civil marriages. The law is merely being regulated in order to meet European Union stipulations. They will still be carried out at municipality registry offices as they always have. Only a few, minor technicalities will be amended in order to iron out the law completely,” he said.
But the fact remains that there are cases when individuals undergo sex change for biological reasons. Sometimes they are born with a hormone imbalance that may give them a male sex organ and yet they ‘feel’ like a woman. Moreover before they undergo surgery, they are psychologically assessed to determine whether or not the surgery is appropriate. Would a refusal to permit them to marry not be an impingement on their human rights?
“I think we have more serious matters than that to discuss,” Agapiou replied.
The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.
