Eastern Europe was once a world lear on gay rights. Then ran out of spegoats | CNN

Contents:

• BETIFUL GAY ROMANIA: SIGHISOARA, CRAVA, BUCHART, BRASOV, BRAN & PEL STL, AND MUCH MORE
• GAY LIFE ROMANIA
• EASTERN EUROPE WAS ONCE A WORLD LEAR ON GAY RIGHTS. THEN RAN OUT OF SPEGOATS
• DE CE ROMâNIA ARE NEVOIE LEGALIZAREA CăSăTORIILOR GAY, DIFERENT CE ZIC EXTREMIșTII
• THE BEST ROMANIA GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS ROMANIA
• THE BEST BUCHART GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS BUCHART
• FOTOGRAFII NUD CU GAY D ROMâNIA RE îțI ARATă Că UMEțEA NU țE RP
• GAY ROMANIA TRAVEL GUI
• CHAT-UL GAY GRATU ROMâNIA
• CE îNSEAMNă Să FII GAY îN ROMâNIA, LA A LA Z
• THE LIFE OF A GAY MAN ROMANIA
• DIPLOMATIC TENSN REPORTEDLY RISG BETWEEN UNED STAT AND JAMAI OVER GAY AMERIN DIPLOMAT

BETIFUL GAY ROMANIA: SIGHISOARA, CRAVA, BUCHART, BRASOV, BRAN & PEL STL, AND MUCH MORE

In fact, the past three s have seen huge progrs for LGBT rights Romania: homosexualy was wholly crimalized (1996), the age of nsent was equalized (2002), anti-discrimatn laws the workplace and regardg the provisn of servic were troduced (2000). In fact, the only law agast gay cizens Romania is that prohibg same-sex marriage; this is unlikely to change any time soon given that public opn, unr the fluence of the church, is still very much agast . Currently, relig and nservative anizatns are mobilizg to hold a referendum on amendg the nstutn so that will enshre marriage as ‘between a man and a woman’; this would make legalizg gay marriage much more difficult and is seen by many as a step backwards.

Thanks to the efforts of advocy anizatns like ACCEPT Romania, attus are slowly changg, and the gay muny is beg more open and active across the untry, although there is still a sizable gap between cy and untry. While overall public attus towards the LGBT muny are still que negative, gay travelers should not allow this to put them off gog to this betiful untry; however, people should be aware of the potential hostily they uld enunter. In an tertg way, is almost more important to be wary Romania than a untry where homosexualy is pletely prohibed; while is legal Romania, the untry is an -between zone where the populatn is more aware of the LGBT muny, and therefore hostile attus are also more out the open.

GAY LIFE ROMANIA

Buchart is fely the most tolerant and open cy Romania; here is where the bulk of Romania’s gay scene is to be found, om vibrant nightclubs to f equented by the LGBT muny.

As has been mentned, the more ral areas are likely to be nsirably more nservative and so gay travelers to the untrysi villag should be aware of that.

It would be difficult to fd a hotel or hostel that has issu wh gay travelers Romania; for one thg, often more open-md people tend to work tourism and hospaly. As is clear om the above rmatn, visors to Romania are not gog to fd much the way of out-and-proud gay parti; even Buchart, the gay scene is fairly limed and always changg.

EASTERN EUROPE WAS ONCE A WORLD LEAR ON GAY RIGHTS. THEN RAN OUT OF SPEGOATS

Some of the bt ways to do this are gay bars – start the eveng somewhere known as a popular gay hangout, and hopefully, that will lead to new iends and adventur.

DE CE ROMâNIA ARE NEVOIE LEGALIZAREA CăSăTORIILOR GAY, DIFERENT CE ZIC EXTREMIșTII

The most important thg for gay travelers to nsir before planng a trip to Romania is what type of trip they would like to have. If they are lookg for an epic glter-filled gay scene as is found Tel Aviv, Puerto Vallarta or Bangkok, Romania is probably not the ial travel statn. Havg said that, most people are very kd and all travelers, gay or straight, are sure to have an adventure they’ll never fet.

Betiful gay Romania: Sighisoara, Crava, Buchart, Brasov, Bran & Pel stl, and much moreStori > Experienc > Betiful gay Romania: Sighisoara, Crava, Buchart, Brasov, Bran & Pel stl, and much moreA mythil natn tellg of ancient Dacian sorcerers and blood-suckg prc broodg om Gothic stle turrets, Romania is one fairy-tale vatn not to be missed. BOOK WITH US Photo: Matei PteanuThe Romanian gay scene may still need a few years to tch up wh Wtern Europe on the matter of gay rights, but, even today, spe lastg Romanian Orthodox fluence, you’ll fd progrsive attus and a strong muny n be found, most notably the pal.

THE BEST ROMANIA GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS ROMANIA

Most notably you’ll fd that lols outsi of the pal are somewhat socially nservative, wh negative attus towards gay and transgenr muni not unmon. In terms of law, while the gay muny is protected by anti-discrimatn laws, same-sex upl are still unable to get married and fluence om the church means this is very unlikely to change the near rights anisatns Romania work tirelsly to advote for gay rights and social acceptance but neverthels Orthodox tns regardg ‘tradnal fay valu’ has ma difficult to shg off the notn of gay ‘immoraly’. Below that li the revelopment area – and one-time historic centre – which, though cidly shabby, matas populary among lols for s great number of bars and rtrants, cludg some gay bar Buchart hot spots.

For party animals wantg a wilr time gay Sibiu however, Delir Gay Club – a mastay of Cluj-Napo and a new addn to Sibiu’s nightlife scene – will be the | Photo: Tudor Gee3. Gay Marriage⚭✖ Foreign same-sex marriag regnized onlyCensorship✔ No censorshipChangg Genr✖ Legal, but requir surgeryNon-bary genr regnn✖ Not legally regnizedEmployment Discrimatn✔ Sexual orientatn and genr intyHog Discrimatn✔ Sexual orientatn and genr intyConversn Therapy✖ Not banned. By The Numbers78% of Orthodox Christians support the Church's posn on refg to perform same-sex marriagHistoryHomosexual activy Romania?

Current statSce Jun 26, 2001Legal The last sectn of the law that crimaliz public maniftatn of homosexualy was marriage Romania? Current statSce Jan 15, 2008Legal The first versn of the qutnnaire stated that male homosexuals, Ain cizens om untri fected wh malaria, unted people, as well as other tegori of people nnot donate blood Romania.

THE BEST BUCHART GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS BUCHART

For the LGBT muny, the nflict is signifint as Romania mov to a new century, a new enomy and new fluenc om the European Unn wh s forward-thkg pro-gay polici. The difficult culture clash is led by a small number of bold LGBT activists termed to pursue “Gay Life Romania” a more open and liberal future for themselv and all Romanian lbians and gays.

Unr his learship (1997 -2002) of ACCEPT, Romania’s ma LGBT anizatn, signifint chang were ma Romania’s discrimatory and opprsive laws agast homosexuals. While the USA has spent almost thirty-five years phg for anti-gay legislatn at the feral level, Coman and his dited panns tablished ACCEPT 1996 and by 2002 had succsfully persuad the Romanian ernment to change s anti-gay statut. Durg the reprsive dictatorial years (1964-89) a gay person uld expect no sympathy om the thori and uld well be jailed for years.

He knew he was gay at the time but would have been dangero to act on or reveal , pecially the heavy-footed macho army. Adrian plays down his fluence brgg about legislative change for Romanian gays: “You know, Eastern Europe many of the LGBT movements are not grass roots. But to the dismay of nservativ and relig orthodox adherents, the price of admissn to the new Europe ntaed human rights standards that require, among other thgs, that homosexualy be crimalized and anti-discrimatn laws be put to place.

FOTOGRAFII NUD CU GAY D ROMâNIA RE îțI ARATă Că UMEțEA NU țE RP

But of urse, changg legal statut on paper don’t easily translate to changg attus among a populatn mostly ignorant about closeted issu such as homosexualy. Dpe an flux of wtern ias, imag, liftyl, fashn and dtry, homosexualy is still a strange phenomenon for most, pecially outsi the major urban centers.

GAY ROMANIA TRAVEL GUI

Gay Romania was a story told to me by three Romanian men old enough to remember Romania’s worst morn dictator and yet young enough to feel the h breeze of the future.

Adrian still f his ias to ACCEPT as the work ntu the uphill work a nservative culture where most people know ltle or nothg about homosexualy (60% of Romanians live ral villag).

In the untry ignorance is the problem; the ci homophobia is sometim worse sce n be aggrsive as ’s fueled by a biased prs and a bigoted church.

CHAT-UL GAY GRATU ROMâNIA

“Whatever hierarchy they believe , all three of the stutns are cidly homophobic so Romanian gays face a lot of ignorance.

Then wh a sly lgh Flor ntued, “but if Romania is the EU 2007, a lot of people are gog to be shocked –they marry gay people Holland.

Dpe the recent legal chang all three gay lears admted that changg attus is the greatt challenge facg gay activists and their anizatns.

CE îNSEAMNă Să FII GAY îN ROMâNIA, LA A LA Z

Media verage is ually sensatnalized and slanted as to make the dividuals volved appear foolish or ls worthy than ‘normal’ people, ” said Flor after dner as we walked toward one of Buchart’s’s gay venu, ‘Queens’ ( was not open yet for the eveng). Then there are untls anizatnal issu such as fundg, staffg, nflicts and nferenc wh other anizatns, tn semars for the universy or bs as well as on-gog TV and rad appearanc to answer endls qutns about homosexualy Romania.

Flor’s ments about Romania and gays echoed Adrian’s and were further backed up by Robert Vargas Cluj-Napo (Cluj for short).

Over ffee at the outdoor fé Diel (the weather September was still warm and pleasant) Robert offered his thoughts about beg gay Cluj and Romania. Although he spoke for himself, his words also reprented many LGBT Romanians who have lived the shadows of fear: “My beg gay affected me more than the terrible polics of the past.

THE LIFE OF A GAY MAN ROMANIA

At that time, the early years after munists fell and before the law changed, there were almost no gay plac, no Inter ntacts, almost no one to ntact. It works lolly wh the police to help lm hostile attus and ordate liaison wh the gay events, or sort out the nfn of a raid on a gay venue. Robert clearly se the enormo task for Accept and Attu now that the pro-gay laws are place; will be an uphill (or up-cliff!

There is ltle unrstandg and ltle tolerance toward gays so is not unual to be threatened, roughed up or erced to pay a bribe.

At bt, homosexualy is sometim vered ‘genr studi’ or ‘Euro-studi’ urs ually tght by lecturers om Wtern Europe, Ameri or Atralia.

DIPLOMATIC TENSN REPORTEDLY RISG BETWEEN UNED STAT AND JAMAI OVER GAY AMERIN DIPLOMAT

There are some small glimps of social change Romania that about 100, 000 Romanians subscribe to ble TV where such statns as HBO, ShowTime and Bravo broadst numero gay-theme ss, dramas and documentari. The most rmal gay experience I had Romania was a chance enunter wh four men–two upl–one afternoon at the Natnal Art Gallery central Buchart. Ined, the sual pannships, the unworried sociabily of an afternoon at the art gallery wh a late eveng at the New Queens Dis were part of their discreet gay life.