The Romanian Senate on Tuesday passed with a large majority a bill
\nto revise the Constitution in order to redefine family as the marriage
\nbetween a man and a woman rather than that between spouses, as it is defined at
\nthe moment. The Chamber of Deputies also passed the bill last May. This
\ncitizens’ initiative belongs to a big coalition of Christian organisations and
\nassociations enthusiastically supported by the Orthodox Church, a coalition
\nthat did not hide its intention to seek a change of the definition of family
\nin the Constitution in order to block any possibility of legalising same-sex
\nmarriage. The initiative must now also be put through a referendum, something
\nthat will take place in October. <\/p>\n
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The debates in Parliament have once again showed Romania as a place
\nof paradoxes. Invoking the country’s 2,000-year-old Christian tradition and the
\nidea that homosexuality is a sin, the Social Democratic Party, which presumably
\nbelongs to an ideological family that is sensitive to the rights of the
\nminorities and which supports tolerance and inclusion, voted in favour of the
\nreferendum. So did their allies, the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats, which,
\nagain, in theory, should support civil rights and liberties. The great Liberal
\nParty in opposition also voted in favour, with the exception of a few senators,
\nwho abstained. The Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania, which has
\nno ideological platform, were also in favour. The only party to stand against
\nthe referendum was the Save Romania Union, which has warned that this is a
\nfutile referendum that will do nothing to improve people’s lives but which may
\ndivide society. <\/p>\n
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A small protest against the redefinition of family in the
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Recently, the screening in a Bucharest cinema of an award-winning
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Senate approves citizens initiative to redefine family in Constitution as marriage between a man and a woman.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":110,"featured_media":48094,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37738],"tags":[34006,116464],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-78747","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-today-in-the-news","tag-family-referendum","tag-romania-en"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
\nConstitution was held in the centre of Bucharest. The representatives of ACCEPT
\nAssociation, which protects the rights of sexual minorities, have said that through
\nits Tuesday vote, the Senate raises homophobia to the level of state value and
\nsacrifices constitutional protections for many families in Romania. They say
\nthe vote is a violation of the right to private and family life, which is an inalienable right that<\/em>belongs to all persons, irrespective of gender and sexual
\norientation under the European Human Rights Convention. This is a serious
\nwarning. <\/p>\n
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\nfilm about the struggle of sexual minorities in France in the 1980s was disrupted
\nby a group of Orthodox fundamentalists who aggressively expressed their
\nhomophobia. The debate that will precede the referendum will show whether
\nRomanian society is capable to change and modernise without abandoning its
\ntraditions, which are invoked excessively for manipulation and propaganda
\npurposes. This is also a test for Romanian politicians, which they are about to
\nfail, however. The Senate vote has clearly showed that ideological confusion,
\nthe attempt to confiscate sensitive issues and use them for populist and
\nelection purposes and collision with stated values and principles have become
\nthe norm.<\/p>\n