ND MP calls on Church to condemn threat from ‘Golden Dawn Youth’ over gay marriage
A governing New Democracy lawmaker has received a written threat by the “Golden Dawn Youth” because he voted for legislation allowing marriage between same-sex couples and is calling on the Church of Greece and opposition lawmakers who voted against the law to condemn the action.
According to reports on Tuesday, Stratos Simopoulos, who represents Thessaloniki’s First Constituency in Parliament, found the threatening letter pasted outside his office in the northern port city.
Written on a computer and inserted into a plastic envelope to protect it from the damp, the letter said that its signatories would do “everything necessary” to remind the Greek people of Simopoulos’ decision to vote for the legislation, which, it said, “defies Hellenic morals” and “Church principles,” until he is removed from office.
The signatories also said they “reserve the right to express their opposition with the government’s unnatural choices,” while adding that Simopoulos’ presence at political or religious events will be treated as being “unwelcome.”
The letter was signed by a group claiming to belong to the now-defunct neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party.
Reacting to the missive from the “ghosts of the past,” Simopoulos said in an announcement that he “takes it as a given that the Church of Greece will express its opposition to this action and any similar actions, and will protect those members of Parliament who supported the bill.
“Likewise, I consider it certain that the parties which opposed the bill will condemn it, and especially will cease, with the extreme rhetoric of their leaders, to fuel these ‘ghosts’,” the conservative lawmaker added.
