Cypriot same-sex couple invite friends to "marriage feast"

The first Cypriot same-sex civil partnership couple to make public their intention to make their ties official have issued invitations to friends to attend a "marriage feast," they said on Facebook on Saturday.

Marios Frixou and Fanos Eleftheriou said they will sign their civil partnership agreement in front of a government official at the district administration in Nicosia on March 4.

They probably will not be the first same-sex couple to enter a civil partnership agreement, but they are the first to come out in public to announce their ties and invite people to attend a public reception.

"Even though we do it mostly to celebrate our love, we want at the same time to send out a social message to same-sex couples who hide to follow our example, because this is the only way to wake up the musts and taboo society of ours," Marios told a website.

Marios is a prison warden and a writer with four books to his credit.

He invited his top boss, the Minister of Justice, to attend the civil partnership ceremony and the minister reportedly has accepted it to show his support in practice.

Interior Ministry officials will start performing civil partnership ceremonies on Jan. 18, after all bureaucratic procedures will have been completed.

Civil partnership status will be recognized both for same-sex and heterosexual couples who do not want to enter into a traditional church or Town hall marriage.

Though civil partnership couples will have the same rights, same-sex couples will not be allowed to adopt children, though in practice one of the parties can still apply for adoption as a single person.

Cyprus introduced the measure in November 2015, under a bill approved with a large majority by the 56-member parliament.

Though Greek Cypriots stick with Greek Orthodox Church traditions, there have not been any strong reactions when the measure was passed as it happened in Greece, which followed Cyprus in recognizing civil partnership about a month later. Endit