A couple of years ago now there was something of a stir caused on the sleepy Greek island of Tilos. If you’ve never heard of Tilos then no one will blame you; it is far from Athens, in the Aegean, it’s only 63 sq km in size, and has a population of 300. Holidaymakers visit the island in the summer for its tranquillity and traditional way of life. Donkeys pass you in the lanes, fishing boats chug lazily around the coves and past the quiet beaches, and the pace of life is, well, slow to say the least.

So what happened back then to cause such an outrage and to push Tilos into the headlines on Greek national news? (And European news channels for a while too.)

A gay marriage took place. Actually, two gay ceremonies took place, and were presided over by the island’s mayor. So what? You may ask. Surely Greece is known for its tolerance of homosexuality? And that is where the ‘yes, but’ comes in.

Politically speaking the, now, old regime in charge of the country when Tilos hit the news, was opposed to same-sex marriage. The current government, PASOK, had presented proposals for the recognition of unmarried couples in the law, which covered both heterosexual and homosexual couples, but this made little headway. And add into the usual turmoil of Greek politics a law from 1982 that legalised civil marriage between ‘persons’ without referring to the gender of those persons and you’ve got a bit of a melting pot for disaster, or at least for confusion and mayhem, on which Greek administration seems to thrive. (And I have had first hand experience of it, so I feel able to say that.)

So, back in June 2008, Tassos Aliferis, the mayor of Tilos, defined the threat of prosecution dealt out by a top prosecutor and ‘married’ two gay couples. ‘Bravo sas’, as they say in Greece. That was certainly the reaction of one of the couples who were quoted as saying ‘From this day, discrimination against gays in Greece is on the decline.’ But sadly, that’s not the case. Yes, Greece was tolerant of same-sex relationship many hundreds of years ago, but these days it is a lot less so. You have to remember that the country is a very religious one, the church has a big say in things, families hold traditional religious values and no one likes a same sex scandal in their face, as it were. So, there was a great out-falling, the mayor was threatened with arrest, other islands who my have been poised to start conducting civil marriages put those plans on hold and the loop-hole that these two brave couples, and the mayor, had thought they could exploit wasn’t there anymore – or at least it is still up for debate and, in the meantime, civil rights, and the same sex partnership issue rumble on through the country.

So, was it all a publicity stunt to improve tourism for the island as some people suggested? And what happens next? Well, whether it was a publicity stunt or not Tilos did get into the news for a while, but there have been no reports that gay folk have been flocking there since, and it’s not set to become a second Mykonos any time soon. And that, by the way, isn’t as ‘gay’ an island as people think it is – it was but now…? Now tourism is a big issue in the country as that is what it relies on for most of its economy, so, tempting gay visitors to come and spend some pink pound seems like a good idea to me.

And as for current and future legislation? Well, I trawled through as many news rooms and sites, political agendas and papers and I could bear to, and, in the last few days, have not seen anything to suggest that the current government are going to act on the lack of human rights that same sex couples currently have, or don’t have. Maybe the government are taking a break at the moment…on Tilos perhaps?