Tens of thousands of activists marched through the streets of Bucharest on Saturday in a colorful LGBTQ Pride parade, demanding legal recognition of homosexual partnerships and equal rights, only weeks after Romania’s presidential election gave strength to far-right voices.
The parade was 20 years after Romania’s first Pride parade and was held at a timely moment for LGBTQ communities in Central and Eastern Europe, where nationalist politics are gaining strength. Marchers waved rainbow flags and banners with slogans like “Love is the worst feeling you could hate” and “Civil partnership for all,” as they marched to music and celebration.
An estimated 30,000 people participated in the march, according to LGBTQ rights organization ACCEPT, which planned the event. “We want legal protection for homosexual couples, a simple legal process for changing gender, and hate speech protection,” commented ACCEPT president Teodora Roseti.
Romania, a member state of the European Union, has so far not followed a 2023 European Court of Human Rights decision that determined the country had committed a human rights violation by not recognizing same-sex couples’ relationships. Homosexuality was only decriminalized in 2001 but marriage and civil unions for gay couples remain illegal there.
The parade took place to the backdrop of mounting conservative opposition. A small counter-demonstration had convened earlier in the day, with protesters decrying the country to remain Orthodox Christian and holding far-right symbols, the Celtic cross.
The country’s recent presidential poll was won by centrist mayor Nicusor Dan over far-right candidate George Simion, who openly opposes LGBTQ rights. Throughout the course of the campaign, LGBTQ organizations reported a spike in hate speech, and the offices of ACCEPT and Mozaiq were vandalized.
In the wider region, Hungary’s parliament recently passed legislation effectively prohibiting Pride parades, triggering fears of a wider clampdown on LGBTQ rights in Eastern Europe.
