Opposition To Repeal
Nonetheless, it was only five years after Modinos v. Cyprus was decided that the anti-sodomy provisions of Section 171 were effectively repealed. The slowness of the reform was due to the deep divisions created by such a morally charged issue. The repeal of Section 171 was openly supported by the liberal United Democrats, and openly opposed by the center-right Democratic Party. Former President George Vassiliou came out in support of the repeal, as did Foreign Minister Ioannis Kasoulides, who argued that Cyprus "cannot ask Turkey to comply with the decisions of the Council regarding human rights violations at the same time to conform to such decisions."
As Judge Zeka had predicted 17 years earlier, the proposed repeal of Section 171 sparked a huge public backlash. Nearly a thousand people protested outside the House of Representatives in Nicosia on May 15, 1997. Known as the Committee for the Fight Against the Decriminalization of Homosexuality, the protest was led by Cypriot Orthodox Church priests, monks and nuns, and featured signs reading "No to Sodom and Gomorrah in Cyprus" and "Cyprus is the island of saints, not homosexuals." Archbishop Chrysostomos I actively campaigned against the repeal of Section 171, and the Pancyprian Christian Orthodox Movement collected 40,000 signatures (representing nearly 5% of the island's total population) on a petition opposing the reform, and even went as far as promising to compile a "blacklist" of all MPs voting for the repeal.
Read more about this topic: Section 171 Of The Criminal Code Of Cyprus
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