At the Council of the Heads of the Christian Orthodox Church held in Istanbul last week, Cyprus’ Archbishop Chrysostomos urged all Orthodox Churches to “condemn homosexuality.”

The Archbishop stated that governments demonstrated “weakening moral integrity” by ensuring equal rights, for example through civil partnerships or equal marriage.

Cyprus’ government plans to submit a civil partnership bill to the House of Representatives for discussion in April.

Local LGBT organisation ACCEPT condemned the Archbishop’s words by stating that “excommunication and alienation is not the right way to promote the message of God.”

Read more at the European Parliament’s Intergroup on LGBT rights official webpage