by Rex Wockner
Romanian President Traian Basescu has signed a new Civil Code enacted by Parliament that discriminates against gay people.
Ironically, Article 30 of the new code bans discrimination based on sexual orientation even as Article 277 bans same-sex marriage, recognition of foreign same-sex marriages, and recognition of foreign civil partnerships, gay or straight.
In addition, Article 462 prohibits two unmarried persons from adopting a child together. Article 258 defines "spouses" as a man and a woman united through marriage, and defines "family" as based on marriage between spouses. And Article 259 defines marriage as between a man and a woman and makes marriage a right.
"The inclusion of these provisions perpetuates discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people and their families," said the Romanian LGBT group ACCEPT, the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, and the European Region of the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (aka ILGA-Europe).
"Articles 277, 258, 259 and 462 prevent same-sex couples and other nontraditional families from enjoying their rights to nondiscrimination, freedom of movement, and privacy under international and European law and policy," the groups said. "These provisions … deny the existence of LGBT and non-traditional heterosexual families, increasing social stigma and discrimination against them."
The organizations wrote Basescu a letter expressing their disappointment with the laws and urging him to support any efforts that may be made to repeal them.
