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

Contents:

• GAY LIFE ROMANIA
• WHAT IT WAS LIKE TO BE GAY COMMUNIST ROMANIA
• THE LIFE OF A GAY MAN ROMANIA
• GAY LIFE ROMANIA – THE NOMADIC BOYS
• WHAT’S IT LIKE TO BE GAY … MOROC?
• BETIFUL GAY ROMANIA: SIGHISOARA, CRAVA, BUCHART, BRASOV, BRAN & PEL STL, AND MUCH MORE
• EASTERN EUROPE WAS ONCE A WORLD LEAR ON GAY RIGHTS. THEN RAN OUT OF SPEGOATS
• THE LIFE OF GAY PEOPLE ROMANIA
• GAY GUY TRAVELS BUCHART? - BUCHART FOM
• WHAT’S IT LIKE TO BE GAY ROMANIA?

GAY LIFE ROMANIA

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 .

WHAT IT WAS LIKE TO BE GAY COMMUNIST ROMANIA

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.

THE LIFE OF A GAY MAN ROMANIA

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.

GAY LIFE ROMANIA – THE NOMADIC BOYS

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. 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.

WHAT’S IT LIKE TO BE GAY … MOROC?

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. 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.

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.

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

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.

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. 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.

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

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 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.

THE LIFE OF GAY PEOPLE ROMANIA

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. 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. 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. 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.

GAY GUY TRAVELS BUCHART? - BUCHART FOM

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.

We uld have been stg any fé any Wtern European cy wh a large gay prence; such was the lm and ease wh which the six of exchanged ias and e-mails addrs that sunny afternoon. On that fal day before parture, our meetg was a good unterbalance to the dntg polics, wispread ignorance and relig phobias that shadow gay life morn Romania.

Collage: Mircea TopoleanuAcrdg to a 2010 report rried out by the Romanian ernment's anti-discrimatn agency, 84 percent of Romanians would refe to drk om the same glass as a gay person. The untry has a long history of beg uniendly to gays: In 1968, when dictator Nilae Ceșcu fally regnized that homosexualy existed, he immediately emed illegal. Acrdg to a report nducted by Human Rights Watch, IGLHRC, and the LGBT NGO Accept, sce 1970 munists ed the anti-gay law to get rid of anyone they nsired to be rebell.

WHAT’S IT LIKE TO BE GAY ROMANIA?

So, when Accept anized a meetg about Romania's gay history, I knew I had to was there that I met Daniel Ia, one of the founrs of Accept and a man who, 1990, was the first person to ask for the dissolutn of Article 200, the sectn of Romania's penal that crimalized same-sex relatnships. There were also circl of gay tellectuals, artists, and wrers, who saw each other a more timate circle, to which you uld get only if somebody brought you , after you had won their tst.