Annual Review 2011

2011


Bias motivated violence

  • The extent of hate crimes motivated by homophobia and transphobia is unknown due to the fact that these incidents are significantly underreported as the victims rarely start legal actions against perpetrators.
  • In November, despite the presence of police and security personnel, the premiere of the first Romanian documentary centred around a gay couple, Noi Doi (Two of US), was broken into by fifteen men from the homophobic organisation Noua Dreapta (ND). The film was being screened during an International Film Festival (DaKINO), in the presence of critics, journalists and the French Ambassador who made a speech before the film. The opening scenes of the film show images from an homophobic march organised by ND. In the cinema, the ND group repeated the homophobic slogans heard in the film, held up homophobic banners and lit up fireworks. They were removed by security before any physical violence had taken place. The audience thought it was part of the screening, and were only told the truth at the end of the film. The ND supporters continued their homophobic protest online, attacking the French Ambassador who had funded the film at the Human Rights Awards. Security measures were taken by the producers for subsequent screenings of the film.

Equality and non-discrimination

In September, ACCEPT Association, together with the Euroregional Center for Public Initiatives (ECPI), managed to change a biased defi nition of homosexuality/ bisexuality in the Dictionary of the Romanian language, which official edition comes under the authority of the Romanian Academy.

Freedom of assembly

In June, 15 foreign embassies issued a joint statement of support for the Bucharest GayFest. The statement of support and solidarity emphasised the entitlement of the LGBT community to respect for their universal human rights. Around 150 people attended the Pride Parade at the end of GayFest. The week of events included a debate on the freedom of movement of same-sex couples in the EU, film screenings, a concert and a literature event.

Health

From December 2010 to August 2011, the drafting process of the National Strategy on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights 2012-2016 took place with the participation of members of the Network on Sexual and Reproductive Rights. The process was coordinated by the ECPI in partnership with the Society for Education on Contraception and Sexuality (SECS), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the Ministry of Health and the Parliamentarian Subgroup on Population and Development as well as the Network. ECPI managed to have areas such as the legal framework regarding adolescents’ access to sexual and reproductive health services and the non-discriminatory access to sexual and reproductive health services access for vulnerable groups included in the draft of the National Strategy. With this stage of the drafting process completed, LGBT organisations prepared to continue their advocacy efforts to ensure that the Strategy is adopted by the Government, that it is budgeted for and implemented as of 2012. A similar advocacy strategy to be developed in order to see the HIV National Strategy adopted, resourced and implemented by the authorities.

Human rights defenders

  • In June, ACCEPT Association won one of the ERSTE Foundation Honorary Awards for its project DIVERSITY – the reality around us. This was one of 37 social integration projects that won awards ranging from €16,000 to €40,000. The award ceremony took place in Prague.
  • In September, a new LGBT organisation, ACT-Q ROMANIA, was registered. The focus of the organisation’s work in support of the LGBT community will be in the field of culture and communication. One of its first actions resulted in the removal of homophobic comments from an online version of an article which presented a distorted image of the LGBT community.

Sexual and reproductive rights

From February to April, ECPI translated and printed a briefing paper on adolescents’ sexual and reproductive rights and collected and published personal stories on LGBT discrimination and recent LGB history in the booklet Homoistorii. Iesirea din invizibilitate (Homo histories).

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