Thousands of people joined a Pride March through the Romanian capital on Saturday evening.
„Every year, the LGBTQIA+ community in Romania takes to the streets to celebrate their identity, to make their voice heard and to claim their right to a dignified life. This year, gay people are invited to join the march accompanied by the people they love, to show the world the beauty of family diversity,” organizers, Accept, said in a statement.
„We anticipate that 2023 will surpass the record number of participants at previous marches, when more than 15,000 people … joined the diversity march,” the organizers say.
Earlier Saturday, anti-LGBT activists organized a counter march in Bucharest.
The New Right Association said it was campaigning for normality”, „for the natural family, founded on the marriage between a man and a woman.”
The New Right said the action was „the protest of Romanians who support traditional family values” and consider „Bucharest Pride” „has an obscene and provocative character” which pushes for the legalization of same-sex marriages and homosexual adoptions.”
On Thursday, the British Embassy Bucharest and other diplomatic missions and dozens of international organizations signed a statement supporting Pride 2023 and the LGBTIQ+ community in Romania.
„We, the undersigned diplomatic missions and international organizations in Bucharest, express our support for Bucharest Pride 2023. This is the 18th edition of this annual event celebrating the diversity and dignity of the LGBTIQ+ community in Romania.”
Bucharest Pride, and all Pride events across Romania, are important occasions to stand up for LGBTIQ+ rights and inclusion. We commend the organizers, volunteers and participants for their work and commitment to achieve equality. We reaffirm our commitment to respecting, promoting and protecting the principles of equality, non-discrimination, and human rights for all individuals, regardless of their sexual orientation, gender identity or sex characteristics.
We firmly support the LGBTIQ+ community in Romania in its pursuit of equal rights, in accordance with international human rights law and the principle of universal human rights. The European Court of Human Rights has established a strong framework for protecting the rights of LGBTIQ+ people. The Court has set out obligations to ensure equality under national laws, such as the establishment of effective hate crime response mechanisms, legal protection for same-sex families and a transparent, consistent, and accessible legal gender recognition procedure for transgender people.
In this context, we encourage the Romanian authorities to address any current legal gaps for the full realization of LGBTIQ+ rights.
Equality, diversity, non-discrimination and respect for universal human rights are part of our core values, and we must act to defend these values, both at home and globally. We recognize that more needs to be done to achieve full equality for LGBTIQ+ persons.
We will continue to work with Romanian authorities and civil society to ensure that all individuals are treated with dignity and respect.
The statement was signed by Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Chile, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Lithuania, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States of America, European Commission Representation in Romania, International Organization for Migration (IOM) Romania and UNHCR Representation in Romania.
