Romania's President Steps In To Save Gay Pride Fest
365Gay.com, 26 mai 2005

City of Bucharest to allow gay pride parade, reversing earlier denial
(AP) - BUCHAREST, 26 mai 2005

Romanian President intervenes in parade row
UK.Gay.com, 27 mai 2005

Romanian president makes way for Pride
Planetout.com, 27 mai 2005

Romanian gays booed as they march through capital
Reuters, 28 mai 2005

RUMÄNIEN, Land aller Möglichkeiten? (România, ţara tuturor posibilităţilor?)
Respekt, Septembrie 2005

Romania's President Steps In To Save Gay Pride Fest
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
Posted: May 26, 2005 5:00 pm ET

(Bucharest/New York City) Bucharest Mayor Adrieau Videanu has reluctantly agreed to issue a permit for a gay pride parade in the capital on Saturday after Romania President Traian Basescu and the Minister of Justice held an emergency meeting with him Wednesday night.
Videanu last week refused to issue permits for GayFest and Bucharest's police commissioner threatened on national Romanian radio to use the police to „punish” marchers if they went ahead with the parade anyway.
The Orthodox Church of Romania also had actively opposed the pride march.
As news of the threats spread through Europe this week a flood of emails poured into the city. Videanu's email account became so clogged he shut it down. Basescu also got a torrent of email and realizing the negative publicity being generated, at a time when he was attempting to stabilize the country's economy and show Romania as a modern state, decided to intervene.
News that GayFest would be allowed to go ahead came only hours before LGBT activists in New York and Washington were to demonstrate in front of Romanian consular offices. The protests were called off Thursday.
„The willingness of people around the world to speak out for our Romanian brothers and sisters demonstrates the power we have to change the minds of political leaders and the course of a nation's government,” Rev. Diane Fisher, a bishop of the predominantly-gay Metropolitan Community Churches told supporters in New York on the phone from Bucharest.
Fisher will lead an MCC worship service in Bucharest -- and will observe the well-timed „World Day of Prayer to End Homophobia.”
The international support Romania gays have received was welcomed by ACCEPT/Romania. Florin Buhuceanu, the group's executive director said that in the 11 years of ACCEPT's existence, gays in the country have never received so much international support and so much media coverage.
©365Gay.com 2005

City of Bucharest to allow gay pride parade, reversing earlier denial
(AP) - BUCHAREST, Romania-The city of Bucharest says it will allow a gay pride parade, reversing an earlier decision not to authorize the march for security reasons.
The parade, which is scheduled for Saturday, would be the first of its kind in Romania, a country where homosexuality was a crime until 2001.
The city initially refused to authorize the parade, telling organizers that it could not guarantee the security of participants because of soccer games taking place at the same time.
The change of heart by the Bucharest administration comes after Romania's President Traian Basescu, who was Bucharest Mayor until 2004, criticized the city's initial denial on Wednesday.
Basescu said refusing the parade was an error. „If they didn't grant the permit it means we just went back 20 years,” he said.
Justice Minister Monica Macovei, a former human rights activist, also called on local authorities to allow the march, saying that sexual minorities had the right to freedom of expression.
During the elections last year, Basescu came under fire from conservative groups and the Social Democratic Party after he endorsed gay rights and also promised to legalize prostitution.
The current mayor, Adriean Videanu, comes from Basescu's Democratic Party.
© 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Romanian President intervenes in parade row
UK.Gay.com, 27 mai 2005

The President of Romania has made an unprecedented attempt to encourage diversity in the country, forcing the mayor of the capital Bucharest to give his blessing to a gay parade.
According to press reports, President Train Basescu held meetings with Mayor Adrieau Videanu earlier this week in a bid to persuade him to allow GayFest to take place this weekend.
Mayor Videanu had previously blocked giving the parade official status, to the anger of gay rights group Accept and international civil rights bodies.
They said that Videanu's refusal to back the parade illustrated the anti-gay sentiment that exists across Romania.
Already the country has faced criticism from the European Union over its stance on minority issues, including lesbian and gay rights.
It was told that to join the bloc it would need to modernise and improve on its track record of civil rights.
Since the issue of Gay Fest reached public awareness, a slew of emails have reached both the mayor and President, causing both systems to be clogged, reports say.
The emails were sent after a high profile call to arms from Accept and the Metropolitan Community Church.

Romanian president makes way for Pride
Planetout.com, 27 mai 2005

The president of Romania has made an unprecedented attempt to encourage diversity in the country, forcing the mayor of Bucharest, the capital, to give his blessing to a gay parade.
According to press reports, President Train Basescu held meetings with Mayor Adrieau Videanu earlier this week in a bid to persuade him to allow GayFest to take place this weekend.
Mayor Videanu had previously blocked giving the parade official status, to the anger of gay rights group Accept Romania and international civil rights bodies. They said that Videanu's refusal to back the parade illustrated the anti-gay sentiment that exists across Romania.
Already the country has faced criticism from the European Union over its stance on minority issues, including lesbian and gay rights. It was told that to join the bloc it would need to modernize and improve its track record of civil rights.
Since the issue of GayFest reached public awareness, a slew of e-mails have reached both the mayor and president, causing both systems to be clogged, reports said.
The e-mails were initiated by a high-profile call to arms from Accept and the Metropolitan Community Church.
(Ben Townley, Gay.com U.K.)

Romanian gays booed as they march through capital
Reuters, 28 mai 2005

BUCHAREST (Reuters) - 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.
(By Antonia Oprita)
©Reuters 2005

RUMÄNIEN, Land aller Möglichkeiten? (România, ţara tuturor posibilităţilor?)
Respekt, Septembrie 2005

Autoritatile bucurestene au lasat sa treaca destul timp pana cand au dat un raspuns asociatiei ACCEPT in legatura cu organizarea unei parade LGBT in Romania. In mod normal, o astfel de solicitare trebuia rezolvata in 24 de ore, dar, primariei i-au trebuit 20 de zile pentru a da un raspuns negativ. Un aparent motiv trebuia sa existe: primarul Adriean Videanu a motivat refuzul apobarii marsului pe probleme de securitate.
Totusi, comunitatea LGBT din Romania nu a renuntat. Florin Buhuceanu, Director executiv al ACCEPT a declarat: „Cu sau fara aprobare, nu vom renunta la acest mars”. In doar doua zile refuzul autoritatilor a fost adus la cunostinta organizatiilor internationale. Parlamentari europeni, organizatii si institutii europene si americane au trimis scrisori de protest prin e-mail. Abia dupa ce presedintele tarii, Traian Basescu, primar general al Bucurestiului pana la alegerile generale de la sfarsitul anului 2004, a intervenit in discutia publica despre marsul homosexualilor si lesbienelor, s-a dat aprobarea.
Astfel, a avut loc cea de-a doua editie a GayFest, dupa cum era planuit intre 23 si 30 Mai. Au avut loc conferinte, un concert, performace-uri si un festival de film gay unde a fost proiectat si filmul „Agnes si fratii ei” , iar punctul culminant l-a reprezentat , anul acesta, parada.
Din pacate greutatile nu s-au terminat odata cu aprobarea si se pare ca nu toate partidele aflate in coalitia de guvernare au fost de acord cu organizarea marsului. Astfel, tanarul partener de guvernare a coalitiei bucurestene, Partidul Conservator (P.C.), care pana de curand purta numele de Partidul Umanist, a organizat pe data de 28 mai, dimineata o demonstratie cu motto-ul „Respect pentru familie”. Parlamentari ai P.C., tineri imbracati in costume nationale si preoti au incercat sa faca un „front” impotriva demonstratiei homosexualilor si lesbienelor tinand in maini icoane si crucifixuri si folosindu-se de valorile crestine romanesti. Acest lucru nu i-a impiedicat totusi pe membrii comunitatii gay.
La ora 18.30 totul era pregatit: primul mars al homosexualilor, lesbienelor, bisexualilor si transsexualilor a pornit din centrul Bucurestiului, din Piata Unirii, fostul nucleu al puterii lui Ceausescu. Manifestantii au purtat steagul curcubeu iar o parte din ei masti de carnaval deoarece multi nu au vrut sa fie recunoscuti de teama ca ar putea fi concediati daca ar fi fost vazuti. In Romania, chiar daca articolul 200 a fost abrogat in anul 2002 la presiunile organizatiei ACCEPT si a Uniunii Europene, nivelul homofobiei este inca foarte ridicat.
„Fara diferente: iubesc pe cine vreau” a fost motto-ul marsului din Bucuresti. Vasile Muresan Murivale (pictor), primul gay roman out care si-a transpus homosexualitatea in arta a declarat: „astazi se petrece ceva extraordinar pentru romani. Nimeni nu stie ce se va intampla in timpul manifestatiei , dar totusi este un sentiment extraordinar: a fi deschis si sincer in a cere drepturile proprii ca homosexual”.
Frica era prezenta in aceeasi masura deoarece, cu o zi inainte, studenti ai facultatilor de teologice crestin-ortodoxe si miscarea fascista „Noua Dreapta” au anuntat ca vor participa la mars si vor incerca sa il opreasca cu orice pret. Cu pancarte pe care scria „Nu vrem sa fim un popor de homosexuali” contrademonstrantii au scandat de pe margine. „Sa va fie rusine! Sa fiti blestemati”. S-a aruncat si cu pietre si oua. Bodyguarzi si jandarmi au distrus pancartele demonstrantilor fascisti, lucru ce a provocat tipete si scandal. Politia a trebuit sa actioneze in forta pentru a tine la distanta extremistii. Cei arestati cantau „Hristos a inviat”.
Peste 300 de persoane au participat la masul LGBT din Romania. Parada nu a fost insotita de muzica si care alegorice, iar participantii nu au inceput sa se imbratiseze cu cei de pe margine. Costumatia a fost destul de serioasa, exceptand un grup de transsexuali care au venit la parada costumati. „Rusty”, un cunoscut travestit bucurestean a venit cu bicicleta. Purta o masca venetiana. A vrut sa se fereasca de vreo piatra aruncata dar si de bastoanele politiei.
Marsul s-a incheiat in Parcul Tineretului - dupa o jumatate de ora! Fara adunarea participantilor, fara discursuri. Politia a anuntat prin megafon: „Marsul s-a incheiat! Va rugam, circulati!”. De sarbatorit, s-a sarbatorit totusi in doua cluburi pana dimineata.
Florin Buhuceanu s-a asteptat ca reactiile impotriva marsului sa existe. ,„unt foarte multumit cu aceasta prima demonstratie a homosexualilor si lesbienelor in Bucuresti”, a declarat el, criticand totusi agresivitatea organelor de ordine. Si Murivale, foarte fericit de reactia romanilor din timpul paradei a explicat cu patos: „covorul rosu de la Cannes nu ma mai multumeste. Uitati-va la Romania, America noastra, tara tuturor posibilitatilor!”.
(de Josef Sallanz)