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Tens of thousands of Romanians joined an LGBTQ Pride march in Bucharest on Saturday, June 7, demanding civil union partnership legislation and equal rights after a highly-contested presidential election last month buoyed the far right. (Image: Reuters)

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The European Union (EU) state has so far ignored a 2023 ruling by the European Court of Human Rights, which found Romania had failed to enforce the rights of same-sex couples by refusing to recognise their relationships. (Image: Reuters)

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Socially conservative Romania decriminalised homosexuality in 2001, decades later than other parts of the EU, but still bars marriage and civil partnerships for same-sex couples. (Image: Reuters)

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“We want legal protection for same-sex couples, an easy legal procedure for transitioning, protection against hate speech and prejudice-based crimes,” said Teodora Roseti, president of Romanian LGBTQ rights organisation ACCEPT and Pride’s organiser. (Image: Reuters)

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In Bucharest, marchers danced and carried the rainbow flag 20 years after the first Pride parade was held, carrying banners such as “Love is the worst feeling you could hate”, “Equality in love, equality in inheritance. Civil partnership for all”. (Image: Reuters)

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Roughly 30,000 people attended the parade, ACCEPT estimated. The march comes at a fraught moment in Central and Eastern Europe, where far right parties have gained ground. Poles held a similar parade on Saturday. (Image: Reuters)

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Hours before the Romanian march, a smaller anti-Pride protest took place, with participants demanding an Orthodox Christian nation and waving flags carrying the Celtic cross, a known far-right symbol. (Image: Reuters)

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In Romania, centrist Bucharest mayor Nicusor Dan ultimately won the presidential election against hard-right opposition leader George Simion, a strong opponent of LGBTQ rights. (Image: Reuters)

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ACCEPT and LGBTQ rights group Mozaiq warned of a rise in hate speech against the community during the election campaign, and their headquarters were defaced. (Image: Reuters)

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People take selfie on the day of an annual LGBT Equality Parade in Warsaw, Poland June 17, 2023. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel Purchase Licensing Rights , opens new tab

Item 1 of 8 People take selfie on the day of an annual LGBT Equality Parade in Warsaw, Poland June 17, 2023. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel

WARSAW, June 17 (Reuters) – Tens of thousands marched through the streets of Warsaw on Saturday to demand equality for LGBTQ people, as the community eyes upcoming Polish elections in which gay rights could play a prominent role.

The country’s ruling conservative nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party has focused on opposing what it calls “LGBT ideology” in previous campaigns. With an election in October or November looking tight, activists expect PiS to use issues like gay marriage or teaching about LGBTQ issues in schools to mobilise socially conservative voters.

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“I am almost 100% percent sure that it will be happening again this year,” said Alicja Herda, one of the organisers of Warsaw’s Equality March. “But I am not very worried because we are a very strong community and we will not be easy to stop from doing our prides (marches) because it’s okay to be who we are.”

PiS says that extending marriage and adoption to gay couples threatens traditional family structures and is harmful for children. It also says that teaching about LGBTQ issues in schools results in children being sexualised.

“Children should not be subjected to practices that are certainly harmful to them and can lead to psychological changes that will negatively affect them in adult life,” PiS leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski said in May.

That view, which is regularly featured in state-run media, strikes a chord with many voters in the predominantly Catholic country. However, critics say the government is seeking to gain votes by stoking prejudice against a minority that already faces widespread discrimination.

“We know that PiS can use any argument at the moment… That is why we want to show that today diversity, minority rights means Europe that is open, Europe that is tolerant. This is what Warsaw is like and I believe that this what Poland will be like,” Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski told a press conference before the march.

Krzysztof Gora, 24, travelled to Warsaw with his boyfriend from London to attend the march.

“We want to celebrate but also fight for more rights [for the LGBTQ community] in Poland,” Gora told Reuters. “I think that in a way parties like PiS are using us as a scapegoat. They show that we are monsters, that we are not really human.”

While thousands celebrated marching to the sounds of music, a group of anti-LGBTQ activists from the Foundation for Life and Family burned rainbow flags, the symbol of the LGBTQ community.

But not everyone complained about hate and discrimination. Sabrina, 45, a march participant who works in international trade, has recently began sex reassignment process.

“Even when I dress as a woman, which is happening more often these days, I don’t experience discrimination,” she told Reuters. “But I assume that many people can have a problem with that. Especially outside Warsaw. In Warsaw we have more space.”

Reporting by Agnieszka Pikulicka-Wilczewska, Alan Charlish and Kuba Stezyki; Editing by Nick Macfie and Mike Harrison

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Thousands marched in Romania’s capital Bucharest on Saturday to demand equal rights for gender and sexual minorities as fears rise over a draft law to ban the discussion of homosexuality and gender transition in schools.

Among the crowd, 37-year-old Catalin Enescu had come with his wife and two young daughters, both dressed in rainbow-coloured dresses.

“It’s my first time taking part in a march like this, but it’s important to be here because the rights of LGBTQ people are no longer respected,” he said.

READ MORE Thailand holds first official pride parade in 16 years, but fight for equality continues

Romania decriminalised homosexuality in 2001, but same-sex couples are still not allowed to marry or enter into civil partnerships.

Activists are worried about a draft law, put forward by lawmakers from Romania’s Hungarian minority, to prohibit educational material that discusses homosexuality and gender transition in schools.

The senate earlier this year passed the bill, though it still has to be put to a vote in the lower house.

The proposal is similar to legislation that came into force last year in neighbouring Hungary.

There was a heavy police presence at the Pride Parade in Bucharest, Romania. Source: AAP / Vadim Ghirda/AP Organisers said 15,000 people came out to demand equality at Bucharest Pride, under the heavy supervision of police.

It came after around 200 people, several brandishing Orthodox Christian icons, earlier in the day responded to a call by far-right party Noua Dreapta for a counter-protest.

“The fact that pride celebrations are bigger and bigger while right-wing groups are smaller and smaller is a positive sign,” International Planned Parenthood Federation’s Tor-Hugne Olsen said.

“But it’s challenging that we see many proposals in parliament that are reducing the rights of the LGBT and other sexual health issues.”

Protestor and University of Bucharest Professor Oana Baluta said she feared what would happen if the bill were passed into law in the European country.

“If it is adopted, this draft law — which is contrary to European Union norms — would deal a grave blow to the freedom of expression and rights of LGBTQ people,” Professor Baluta said.

Thousands attended the gay pride march in the Romanian capital calling for equal rights for the LGBTIQ+ community. Source: AAP / Andreea Alexandru/AP “It would set a dangerous precedent because we would then risk also being banned from the right to discuss abortion and sexual education,” she said.

Romania has one of the highest rates of teenage pregnancies in Europe. Abortions are legal, but access to them has become increasingly difficult.

‘Visibility, pride and resilience’: Hundreds of thousands march in Madrid

Hundreds of thousands of people waved rainbow flags and danced to techno music at Madrid’s Pride march on Saturday as the event returned following two years of Covid-enforced restrictions.

Demonstrators in the Spanish capital gathered in the late afternoon behind a large banner with the slogan “visibility, pride and resilience”.

Some participants carried water pistols and sprayed each other to keep cool in the searing heat. Others went bare-chested and danced to the rhythm of Brazilian and techno music.

The demonstration ran through the streets of Madrid on Saturday under the slogan ‘Facing hate: Visibility, Pride and Resilience’. Source: AAP / EMILIO NARANJO/EPA Several ministers from Spain’s left-wing coalition government, including Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska, joined them.

“I missed this a lot, the atmosphere is great. You can see that people really wanted to party after so long without a ‘normal’ Pride,” 38-year-old teacher Victor Romero Fernandez said.

City authorities said more than 600,000 people took part in the event, which Spain’s public broadcaster Televisión Española covered live for the first time.

Civil servant Miguel Angel Alfonso, 44, appreciated seeing packed streets but thought the event should put more emphasis on demanding rights.

“It has become a big party, with floats converted into discos and multinationals… it’s a big business,” he said.

Hundreds of thousands showed up to the Pride Parade in Madrid, the first time full-scale celebrations have returned since the pandemic. Source: AAP / LUCA PIERGIOVANNI/EPA Homosexuality was decriminalised in Spain in 1978, three years after the death of dictator Francisco Franco. The country has since legalised marriage and adoption for same-sex couples.

But the national LGBTIQ+ federation, FELGTBI+, said it was important to give “visibility” to the community, denouncing growing “hate speech” in a statement before the march.

FELGTBI+ added that such discourse was “undermining the foundations of social harmony, putting at risk the gains achieved up to now”.

The federation also supported a draft law, to be debated in parliament this summer, that would allow someone to change their name and gender on identity documents at their request from the age of 16.