First Rsia, Then Hungary, Now Romania Is Consirg A 'Gay Propaganda' Law 

Contents:

• ROMANIA MARRIAGE POLL: REFERENDUM TO BAN GAY UNNS FAILS
• ROMANIA’S REFERENDUM TO BAN GAY MARRIAGE FAILS
• THE RELIG RIGHT LOST THE FIGHT OVER GAY MARRIAGE THE U.S., BUT SE HOPE EASTERN EUROPE
• FIRST RSIA, THEN HUNGARY, NOW ROMANIA IS CONSIRG A 'GAY PROPAGANDA' LAW 
• ROMANIA SETS DATE FOR REFERENDUM TO BLOCK GAY MARRIAGE

ROMANIA MARRIAGE POLL: REFERENDUM TO BAN GAY UNNS FAILS

However, practice not much will change: Romania do not regnise gay marriage or civil Barna, of the opposn Save Romania Unn, the only major polil party to oppose the referendum, lled for the ernment's immediate rignatn for "wastg €40m ($46m; £35m) of public money on a fantasy" lg Social Democrats had strongly supported the party's lear, Liviu Dragnea, was due urt this week to appeal agast a jail sentence of three and a half years for his volvement a fake jobs sndal - but his appeal was layed for another month on Monday morng. "They mt answer the people's wish, " he a change may be on the rds - at the end of September, the nstutnal urt led that gay upl should have the same rights as followed a June 2018 lg by the European Court of Jtice favour of a Romanian man, Adrian Coman, who had married his Amerin partner Belgium. He says he was "met wh afeng silence" — silence that turned to vol homophobia the weeks before the vote.

Romania did not crimalize homosexualy until 2001 — and only then bee was a prendn for enterg the European Unn. "Romania was one of the last untri Europe to crimalize homosexualy, " he said.

"Until that happened, 2001, prisons were filled wh gay people. "Before that, Romanian jails were filled wh gay people, " said Viski, the LGBT activist. Romania only crimalized homosexualy 2001 and don’t not currently allow same-sex marriage.

ROMANIA’S REFERENDUM TO BAN GAY MARRIAGE FAILS

Romanians will be asked this weekend whether they want to refe marriage as only beg between a man and a woman rather than “two spo”, a referendum that LGBT activists say is fuellg homophobia rult will have ltle practil effect, given that same-sex marriage is not legal Romania, and crics of the referendum, which was brought by a nservative NGO lled Coaln for the Fay, say has been seized upon by policians as a distractn tactic.

” She said there had been ltle real bate around the issue, wh each si operatg an echo of Romania’s polil opposn have supported the y mpaign, and those agast the referendum have opposed as a waste of time, aware that promotg gay rights is not a vote-wng tactic.

THE RELIG RIGHT LOST THE FIGHT OVER GAY MARRIAGE THE U.S., BUT SE HOPE EASTERN EUROPE

Romania only crimalised homosexualy 2001, much later than most neighbourg untri.

There is ltle doubt that the vote will be overwhelmgly favour of the amendment, but is unclear whether the turnout wh be high enough for a bdg potential upsi is that wh same-sex marriage led out, Romania may beg mov to allow civil partnerships for gay upl, but rights activists say there is no guarantee that this will happen. BUCHAREST (Rters) - Gay bar owner and novelist Alex Andronic fears a referendum this weekend Romania that aims to prevent same sex upl ever securg the right to marry not only darkens his future, will also stir an tolerable level of hate and Viski of LGBT rights group Mozaiq livers a speech durg a prott agast the referendum regardg proposed chang to the nstutn that would prevent future regnn of same-sex marriag, Buchart, Romania, September 30, 2018.

Nohels, the untry will vote on whether to narrow the nstutnal fn of marriage om a unn of spo to one between a man and a referendum, which needs a 30 percent turnout rate was brought by a civil society group lled the Coaln for the Fay, which said the genr-ntral term “spoe” uld see gay upl w the right to marry the gathered 3 ln signatur to generate the vote. “We mt unrstand how much our vote is need, how much our children and grandchildren need our protectn to fend their rights and future, ” has mpaign posters and ads are falsely urgg people to vote “Y” or n the risk of gay upl stealg or adoptg their children.

FIRST RSIA, THEN HUNGARY, NOW ROMANIA IS CONSIRG A 'GAY PROPAGANDA' LAW 

Earlier this year, Romania need a European Court of Jtice lg to grant rincy rights to gay spo married other EU stat. Romania crimalized homosexualy 2001, s later than neighborg untri.

In practice, the referendum was a futile exercise that would have had no immediate impact on the rights of LGBTI people, sce Romania don’t regnise gay marriage or civil unns. The nstutnal change would have ma exponentially more difficult for gay upl to marry the future.

Homophobic reactns and li were wily shared on social platforms, and most polil parti were eher silent on the matter or add their own discrimatory views. A 61-year-old Romanian Amerin, Costea chatted easily Romanian wh medil stunts as he hand out lerature about Saturday’s ballot wasn’t the first time Costea had mpaigned agast gay marriage here. Eastern Europe, he said, is a particularly attractive target, bee of a backlash agast the socially progrsive polici of the European greater rights for gay people have taken hold elsewhere — cludg the Uned Stat, where the Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage natnwi 2015, and India, where a gay-sex ban was stck down last month — nservative groups Romania are hopg to stem the ti.

ROMANIA SETS DATE FOR REFERENDUM TO BLOCK GAY MARRIAGE

But ne years later, the effort was revived — thanks large part to the lobbyg efforts of some of Ameri’s largt nservative Christian groups, cludg Liberty Counsel and the European branch of Pat Robertson’s Amerin Center for Law and rights groups and the Southern Poverty Law Center say the legal arms of the groups, once cricized for their volvement promotg anti-gay legislatn Ai and South Ameri, have been embolned by Donald Tmp’s days of Tmp’s electn victory, the Coaln for Fai was “ntacted by higher-ups the Romanian ernment to say that thgs had changed Romania bee thgs had changed the Whe Hoe, ” Costea said.

EU member untri are allowed to fe marriage as they choose, however, and none of the former Warsaw Pact untri the bloc have legalized same-sex month, Romania’s Constutnal Court did le that gay upl should have the same “fay rights” as heterosexuals matters such as herance and medil issu. Another Romanian gay rights advote, Flor Buhuceanu, wrote a 2016 report for the European Center for Public Iniativ: “Wh heavy support offered by their Amerin unterparts, the relig right’s ambn eastern Europe is to enurage, prepare and iate a -secularizatn procs, dismantlg piece-by-piece the most important elements of liberal cizenship.