Romania's first openly gay candidate seeks power to win change

• Buhuceanu wants to be Romania's first openly LGBTQ+ MP
• Romania ordered to recognise same-sex unions last year
• Prime minister says country isn't ready for progress

BUCHAREST - An LGBTQ+ activist aiming to become Romania's first openly gay MP says he is fed up with politicians lacking the "courage" to recognise same-sex civil unions despite a 2023 order to do so by a top European court.

Florin Buhuceanu is running for Renewing Romania's European Project (REPER), a liberal minority party, and is the first openly LGBTQ+ person to stand for election in the socially conservative country.

The nation of 19 million goes to the polls on Dec. 1. to elect members of parliament, alongside a two-round presidential contest on Nov. 24 and Dec. 8.

In 2019, he and his partner of 10 years Victor Ciobotaru took Romania to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) for refusing to recognise their relationship and denying them the same rights afforded married couples under Romanian law.

Along with 20 other couples, they won their case, and the ECHR ordered Romania to recognise same-sex unions in May 2023.

Eighteen months later and nothing has changed.

"It's sad that Romanian politicians are so lacking in courage to look around them and open up their eyes to the realities that are under their nose," Buhuceanu, 53, told Context in Bucharest.

"This issue cannot be separated from what's going on with the democracy status of Romania. It's inconceivable to have final judgments that are not respected immediately."

Romania has a poor record on LGBTQ+ rights, ranking second from last in the European Union, according to analysis by LGBTQ+ advocacy group ILGA-Europe.

Bucharest only decriminalised homosexuality in 2001.

In 2009, Romania's civil code banned same-sex marriage and same-sex unions, and in 2018, Romanians were asked to vote on a change to the constitutional definition of marriage, but the ballot was declared invalid due to low turnout.

Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu, whose ruling Social Democrat Party (PSD) is ahead in the polls, says Romania is not ready to implement the ECHR ruling, and no major political party has publicly backed the issue ahead of the election.

Buhuceanu said he wanted his election campaign to accelerate understanding and acceptance of LGBTQ+ people.

"It's the only community I'm aware of with zero political representation and this has to change," Buhuceanu said.

"We cannot wait, we should mobilise our people to occupy as many positions as possible. Otherwise, the anti-gender movement, these extreme political parties, will try to occupy the vacuum we have produced."  

"Allies exist"

Buhuceanu rose to prominence for his human-rights activism in the late 1990s, launching the country's first gay festival in 2004 and the first Pride march a year later. He also led Accept, the largest LGBTQ+ rights organisation in Romania.

Buhuceanu and Ciobotaru live in central Bucharest, sharing their home with a rescue cat, Chance, and an extensive LGBTQ+ history museum, which they curated themselves.

The museum houses art, photos and paperwork documenting the lives of persecuted LGBTQ+ Romanians, and the couple open it to visitors at the weekend.

Without legal recognition of their relationship, the couple is denied countless benefits - a point hammered home when Ciobotaru was denied help under Buhuceanu's insurance during a health scare in 2017 - help that a spouse would have received.

Now Buhuceanu is hoping his campaign will accelerate the sort of change that he has long been denied.

"Honestly, I'm getting old. I really want to see this change in family rights during my lifetime," Buhuceanu added.

Despite the lack of progress on same-sex unions, acceptance of LGBTQ+ people appears to be growing in Romania's biggest cities, according to surveys completed by activist group MozaiQ.

This contrasts with a rise in anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment across east and central Europe, where a wave of countries has cracked down on gay rights.

A study in May found that reports of hate crime and harassment had reached record levels across the continent.

Buhuceanu has felt encouraged by young Romanians who fight for sexual and reproductive rights, and said a rising number of MPs are also sympathetic, even if their parties are not.

"I remember how desperate I was at the end of the '90s even to get permission to enter parliament and speak up on a number of issues. We barely identified one or two MPs who could invite us, not back us politically," Buhuceanu said.

"Now there are dozens of MPs we can identify as collaborators. To my standards - very low standards - that is progress. Allies exist, they just don't have the ability to be very vocal."   

(Reporting by Lucy Middleton; Editing by Lyndsay Griffiths.)