Greece conducted its first same-sex partnership yesterday.

The ceremony was performed by Mayor Giorgos Kaminis and was between an unnamed male couple – a doctor and a teacher at Athens City Hall.

The ceremony took place one month after the Greek parliament voted in favour of ‘cohabitation pacts’ for same-sex couples. 

During Athens Pride last year, Kaminis said it would be a “great honour” to perform the first civil union in Greece.

“As the first day that the law is being implemented, today is very important for civil rights in Greece and the country’s compliance to international reality,” Kaminis said during the signing ceremony.

Kaminis later tweeted this photograph:

I signed the first same-sex civil partnership paperwork. This is a big day for the civil rights in Greece pic.twitter.com/cEJZZ4Dbx1

— Georgios Kaminis (@KaminisG) January 25, 2016

The new legislation gives same-sex couples most of the same legal rights as married heterosexual couples. Same-sex marriage still seems a long way off.

In 2013, the country was heavily condemned by the European Court of Human Rights – which ruled that a civil partnerships law from 2008 which explicitly banned same-sex couples should be amended.

Some members of the Greek parliament voted to re-draft.

The bill was strongly supported by Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras – who has long supported LGBT rights. 

Mr. Tsipras said the passing of the law would end “a circle of embarrassment for the state”.