Romanian Gays Booed
As They March Through Capital
By REUTERS from the
NYTimes on the Web, May 28, 2005
BUCHAREST -- About 500
Romanian gays marched through central Bucharest on Saturday in the first such
demonstration in the ex-communist country, attracting anger from passers-by who
booed and shouted.
Romania, which aims to join the European Union in 2007, decriminalised
homosexuality in 2001 as part of reforms needed to join the wealthy bloc,
but most gays hide their orientation for fear of prejudice and discrimination.
Homosexuals and lesbians holding banners reading "Out and proud" and "Stop
prejudice, I love who I want" walked through the streets protected by riot
police as onlookers shouted "Shame on you," "Get out of Romania" and
"Homosexuality is a sin."
"We want to show people that we exist and that we are not afraid," said George
Iacobescu, a 30 year-old beauty adviser and member of the Romanian gay rights
group Accept.
"A lot of homosexuals are still in the closet, they are afraid of getting out on
the street," he said.
Riot police briefly detained 10 members of the far right organization "New
Right" who tried to break through police ranks and surge toward the marchers,
waving banners reading "Against homosexuality, for normality."
Homosexual behavior was punishable with jail terms of up to five years in
Romania before 2001.
Thousands of homosexuals were jailed after the communists passed a decree
banning homosexuality in 1968 and hundreds more were sent to prison after the
1989 bloody revolution which ousted Stalinist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu.
Gays are viewed with hostility by much of the public. Most people in the
Balkan country of 22 million largely accept the powerful Orthodox church's
view of homosexuality as a sin and a disease.
(Emphasis Added)
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