Several thousand people marched in Bucharest on Saturday to defend the rights of sexual minorities, still flouted in Romania and threatened by a proposed anti-LGBT law similar to that adopted by Viktor Orban's Hungary.
"
This is the first time that I have taken part in such a march, but it was important to be there because the rights of LGBT people are not respected
", explained to AFP a participant, Catalin Enescu, 37, accompanied by by his wife and their two little girls, dressed in rainbow-colored dresses.
Romania only decriminalized homosexuality in the early 2000s and still does not allow same-sex marriage or civil union.
The demonstrators, more than 15,000 according to the organizers, criss-crossed the center of the capital with rainbow flags, symbol of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, transsexual, queer and other movements.
The parade took place without incident but under heavy police surveillance, before a rally in a park near the Parliament.
Earlier in the day, around 200 people, some of whom were brandishing Orthodox icons, took part in a “
march of normality
”, called by a far-right party, Noua Dreapta.
“
The fact that Pride marches are getting bigger and far-right groups are getting smaller and smaller is a positive sign
,” said Norwegian Tor-Hugne Olsen, head of the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF).
“
But at the same time we see bills that aim to reduce LGBT rights or even access to sex education
,” he added.
A text intended to prevent "
the promotion of homosexuality and sex change
" among minors, drafted by elected members of the Hungarian minority in the Bucharest Parliament, was tacitly adopted by the senators and should soon be put to the vote deputies.
"
If adopted, this proposed law, which is contrary to European Union standards, will seriously undermine freedom of expression and the rights of LGBT people
", worries Oana Baluta, professor at the University from Bucharest, encountered among the demonstrators.
Read alsoThe French army settles in Romania
"
It would be a dangerous precedent because then we risk being denied the right to talk about abortion or sex education
", in a country that is at the top in Europe for the number of teenage pregnancies and where access to abortions is increasingly difficult.
