Roumania lifts gay ban; church objects
Gay.com U.K.
published Monday, December 24, 2001
Aging communist-era laws criminalizing gays and lesbians was removed Friday in Roumania.
The scrapping of the law, which was introduced during the reign of Nicolae Ceasescu, was prompted by the European Union's insistence that until the law was removed Roumania could not join the EU.
The law, Article 200 of the Penal Code, had been used to harass and imprison thousands of Roumanian homosexuals, and its demise sparked celebrations amongst the East European nation's gay community.
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However, despite the law's removal, the EU forced the change on Roumania rather than being the result of Roumania becoming more progressive.
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Roumania's powerful Orthodox Church, however, was furious at the decision. "We need healthy young people in mind and body, like any civilized country, and we must try to protect them from contamination by such serious sinners," said Holy Synod bishop Vincentiu Ploisteanu. "We want to join the European Union, not Sodom and Gomorrah."
Roumania lifts gay ban; church objects
Gay.com U.K.
published Monday, December 24, 2001
Aging communist-era laws criminalizing gays and lesbians was removed Friday in Roumania.
The scrapping of the law, which was introduced during the reign of Nicolae Ceasescu, was prompted by the European Union's insistence that until the law was removed Roumania could not join the EU.
The law, Article 200 of the Penal Code, had been used to harass and imprison thousands of Roumanian homosexuals, and its demise sparked celebrations amongst the East European nation's gay community.
.
However, despite the law's removal, the EU forced the change on Roumania rather than being the result of Roumania becoming more progressive.
.
Roumania's powerful Orthodox Church, however, was furious at the decision. "We need healthy young people in mind and body, like any civilized country, and we must try to protect them from contamination by such serious sinners," said Holy Synod bishop Vincentiu Ploisteanu. "We want to join the European Union, not Sodom and Gomorrah."