Anti-gay march draws some scores of people in Bucharest, before pro-homosexual one
Some scores of people, mostly young members of the Noua Dreapta (The New Right) organization, got together today at a march against homosexuality in Bucharest, displaying placards and chanting for "normality in Romania", few hours before the annual gay parade.
The participants met around 11 a.m. nearby the Romanian Athenaeum, next
to several older persons who themselves are against homosexuality.
"Romanians, wake up! Sexual perversions are contagious mental diseases"
or "Romanians, stop the homosexual epidemic! It is more dangerous than
the flue" are just some of the messages written on the placards. The
participants also chorus "Romania is not Sodom."
We have nothing against homosexuals, but it bothers us so see that they make public their options and attitudes that should remain private, one of the participants at the march told NewsIn.
The organizers of the normality march said they will not try to sabotage the march of sexual minorities that will take place this afternoon at 5 p.m, and added they are just trying to express their points of view through this action, said Alexandru Nastase, the leader of Noua Dreapta Bucharest. This is the fourth year in a row when such a march is organized.
According to a poll carried out by Gallup Organization Romania in
June-July last year, homosexuality is seen as a bad thing by 68 percent
of the Romanians. About 36 percent of them deem homosexual relations
should be sanctioned, through prohibiting some rights. The same poll
indicates that 56 percent of the Romanians say homosexuals should not
be allowed to organize public events and 36 percent of them wish they
would stop showing on television.
After several years of contentions, the Romanian government abrogated
in June 2001 the law regarding discriminatory sanctions for
homosexuals, following pressures from the European Council.
On the other hand, the ACCEPT organization which organizes the march of sexual minorities, said that the aim of this action is to attract attention over the rights of the LGBT community (lesbians, gay, bisexuals and transgender). The members want to advert to the fact that there is no equality for all the citizens in Romania, and also to stretch the visibility of the LGBT community, the spokesman of ACCEPT Bogdan Istrate told NewsIn.
According to ACCEPT, one of the major problems of the sexual minorities in Romania is that they cannot close civil partnerships to indicate legally that two persons of the same sex can cohabit and have similar rights as married couples.