Church of Cyprus responds to bill on “legal recognition of gender identity”

Nicosia, Cyprus, September 11, 2018

Photo: cyprus-mail.com

On Monday, August 27, the Cypriot Ministry of Justice launched a public consultation on for a new bill on the legal recognition of gender identity. This represents the first stage in a long process before the bill, providing for anyone over 18 to legally change their gender, can become law, reports Cyprus Mail Online.

Those wishing to change their gender would only have to submit a form, without even undergoing any surgery or medical examination or receiving any medication “concerning their physical or psychological health.”

Parents can submit the form on behalf of their minor children. If approved, applicants will receive a new birth certificate and identification card.

The bill was put forth as a demand of Accept-LGBT Cyprus and various Cypriot MPs. Gender change laws have also been brought up by the Council of Europe.

The Cypriot Orthodox Church addressed the bill at its session today under the chairmanship of His Beatitude Archbishop Chrysostomos of New Justiniana and All Cyprus, declaring that, “The Synod considers that the sex of each person is given by God… Gender is determined by the physiology of the human body, and it is not an element of choice, self-determination, or change of will,” reports Romfea.

The bishops added that the Holy Scriptures clearly teach that God created man as male and female, which is grossly violated the current trend of gender theories.

“We believe that this bill … shatters the institution of the family,” the Cypriot hierarchs affirmed. The long and consistent Orthodox Tradition cannot allow for such a seismic shift as can be accepted by people of other philosophies and religions, the Synod writes.

“The psychosomatic degeneration of society is not good for those who are struggling for national survival,” the bishops’ statement reads.

Greece adopted a similar law in October, evoking a storm of protest from the Greek Church and Mt. Athos.

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