"The deputies decided yesterday, with a majority of votes, that homosexuality be punished by 1 to 5 years imprisonment. In other words, the proposal of Mr. Razvan Dobreson (PNTCD) was approved and the provision of the present Criminal Code (that is, the one inherited from the Ceausescu regime) was maintained.This happened in spite of the requests done by the Council of Europe that relations between persons of the same sex should not be punished. In this winter, the Senate adopted a formula by which homosexuality was punished by 1 to 5 years imprisonment, if public scandal occurred. The Juridical Commission of the Chamber of Deputies has suggested the punishment of the relations between people of the same sex if they were done in public. Most of the deputies of the National Peasants Christian Democratic Party (PNTCD) who spoke maintained that homosexuality contravenes the Christian morals.
As a reply, the liberals and the deputies of the Democratic Union of the Hungarians in Romania (UDMR) emphasized that one must not mistake sin for offence and that, after all, they were talking about an issue of individual freedom. They also invoked the right to private life, which was also provided for in the constitution.
In spite of all these arguments, the majority of the deputies voted for the punishment of the homosexuals. Taking into account the fact that there are diverging points between the text voted by the Senate and the one adopted by the Chamber of Deputies, it is necessary that a Commission for mediation be established. There is the possibility that the text of the Commission could alter the text adopted yesterday by the deputies."
Although sexual orientation is not explicitly mentioned in CSCE documents, it is steadily being discussed as part of the CSCE human dimension. A number of national delegations and NGOs called for heightened attention to sexual orientation at the 1992 Helsinki Follow-Up Meeting, and it was among the subjects of discussion at length at the 1993 Implementation Meeting on the Human Dimension. As the rapporteur's summary of that meeting noted: "It was pointed out that CSCE commitments in the area of non-discrimination cover homosexuals as well. Suggestions were made that discriminatory State policies against homosexuals, and criminalizing legislation, should be eliminated."
The human rights of gays and lesbians in Romania acquired particular political significance in late 1993, when Romania was granted full membership in the Council of Europe (CoS). At that time, the CoE made clear its expectation that Article 200 of the Romanian Penal Code would be revised in conformity with ColE standards. Article 200, Paragraph 1, in its original form, imposed a total ban on gay and lesbian relations with a prison sentence of one to five years. According to the Romanian Helsinki Committee, there are currently 37 individuals imprisoned under Article 200, of whom three were convicted solely for having consensual same sex relations with another adult.
The Romanian Independent Society for Human Rights (SIRDO) was the first domestic non-governmental organization to address the human rights of gays and lesbians in Romania, establishing a Commission For Gay and Lesbian Right in May 1991. Since that time, other NGOs including the Romanian Helsinki Committee and Group 200 have adopted sexual orientation as a focus of their work. International human rights organizations like Amnesty International and the International Human Rights Law Group have also expressed concern about the human rights of gays and lesbians in Romania.
Pressured by domestic and international human rights and gay and lesbian associations, the Senate amended Article 200 in February 1994. The amendments failed to satisfy human rights concerns, however; according to the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, the "much touted reform is only a cosmetic change that will not end or lessen the Romanian government's ongoing juridical persecution of gays and lesbians.
The Senate's version of the text now states that sexual relations between individuals of the same gender are punishable with jail sentences of one to five years if such relations result in "public scandal," though what constitutes a public scandal is not defined in the statute. The age of consent for homosexual relations is higher than that established for heterosexual relations; similarly, criminal penalties for homosexual conduct are more rigorous than those imposed for crimes involving analogous forms of heterosexual conduct. In addition, the Senate added prison terms of one to five years for "encouragement or allurement of individuals, with a view to the perpetration of the deeds described in the above paragraphs, as well as propaganda actions, associations, or any other proselytizing actions carried out in view of the same purpose..." - a restriction that human rights activists fear could be used against gay publications, organizations, or establishments.
The amended text was passed to the Chamber of Deputies for consideration, and in late April 1994, the Juridical Committee of the Chamber of Deputies passed a modified version of the article. In the view of a number of human rights organizations, the changes were quite favourable: changing "causing a public scandal" to "perpetrated in public;" striking the paragraph that would have criminalized "propaganda," "proselytizing," and associations; and reducing some of the jail terms.
There has not been any further action on Article 200 in the Romanian parliament since that Committee decision. Article 200 is being considered along with amendments to the entire Penal Code, and, as of this writing, deliberation about the amendments in the Chamber's Juridical Committee has been temporarily suspended. The amendments will be reported out by the Committee as a whole once the articleby-article deliberation has been completed. Then the package will be scheduled for floor debate and, if the Committee's recommendations on Article 200 are confirmed, it and any other article inconsistent with the Senate package will go to a Mediation Committee. If the Mediation Committee fails to reach agreement, there will be a joint session of the parliament to vote on it line-by-line.
For the time being, Romania's gay community lives under the threat and stigma of the current legislation and hostile social attitudes. Credible allegations of police entrapment and abuse of homosexuals have been recorded by international and domestic NGOs, and a number of gay Rumanians have claimed that the police use blackmail or extortion tactics threatening to reveal their sexual orientation to force 'them to "out" other members of the gay community. There have also been credible reports of physical and psychological harassment of homosexuals detained by the police. As long as homosexual activity by consenting adults retains criminal status, Romania's gay men and women will continue to suffer persecution.
Article 200, paragraph 1 of the Romanian penal code is a provision of law that punishes "sexual relations between persons of the same sex" with 1 to 5 years' imprisonment.
In 1993, upon revising Romania's candidacy to the Council of Europe, the rapporteurs made it clear in their reports that serious consideration should be given to decriminalizing adult consensual relations between same~sex persons. In October 1993, Romania was admitted to the CoE. At that time, the Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly indicated that "Romania will shortly change its legislation in such a way that. Article 200 of the penal code will no longer consider as a criminal offense homosexual acts in private between consenting adults". Romania signed the European Convention on Human rights in November 1993 and ratified it in June 1994.
Throughout 1993 and 1994, a group of activists visited several Romanian penitentiaries to document the situation of homosexual detainees. Despite the repeated denials by officials, in November 1993 as many as 57 men were in prison under different paragraphs or Article 200. Of these, three were imprisoned solely under paragraph 1. Investigations in those cases showed a recurrent pattern of beatings by the police, extortion of facts, torture, and mistreatment of all sorts. Disturbing stories exemplified the invasiveness of police and prosecutors hungry for evidence of private acts.
The latest lists provided by the Ministry of Just ice shows that 56 men are currently imprisoned under Article 200. of these, one (in the penitentiary of Aiud) is serving a one-and-a half year term solely under article 200, paragraph 1.
in January and February 1993, the police in the Transylvanian city of Sibiu began arresting suspected homosexuals. Five persons were eventually jailed, and charged under Article 200, paragraph 1. All were pressured to incriminate a prominent newspaper publisher who appeared to be the target of the investigation, and whom police believe had sexual relations with them. When enough evidence (?!?) had been collected, police also arrested the publisher. In September 1993, lawyers for the publisher referred the matter to the Constitutional court.
Having agreed to hear the appeal, the Court ruled in July 1994 that Article 200, paragraph 1 in its present formulation was unconstitutional " to the extent to which it applies to sexual relations between adults of the same sex, freely consummated, not committed in public or not causing public scandal". A recent proposal of the Parliament to amend paragraph 1 was recently reversed by a vote that stopped the entire revision of the penal code. As of today, Article 200, paragraph 1 remains unchanged.
A case in the city of Timisoara in 1993 offers clear evidence of the power of Article 200, paragraph 1 to maim the lives of the young. In January 1993 two young Rumanians were arrested by the police and placed in preventive detention for having lived together - freely and consensually. Police and prosecutors gave the case extensive publicity; their names and addresses were later published in national newspapers. The two came to trial in June 1993 and were both convicted to suspended sentences. While the two were free, their ordeal was far from being over. The suspended sentences (one and two tears respectively) could be reimposed should they be caught in a second "offense"; both strongly felt their lives dominated by tear.
The suspended sentences were largely due to pressure from the international community. ILGA and many other international and local organizations have been instrumental in this respect, in documenting, publicizing, and mounting awareness in instances where gay and lesbian rights were at stake. Within two years, homosexuality has become an issue of public debate in Romanian press and among urban circles. Two established human rights organizations - SIRDO and the Roman ian Helsinki Committee - had sexual minorities among their programs. In fact the visits to the penitentiaries were made possible by the latter organization.
In February 1992, Total relations, the first gay and lesbian group was formed. In February 1993, a second one, Group 200, more politically inclined, was created. They have both sent delegates to ILGA conferences in the past. unfortunately, both are defunct by now, having succumbed to internal fights and, most importantly maybe, to the society's highly disapproving view of homosexuality. The public still clings to the idea of a traditional, orthodox Romania that can stay uncorrupted by foreign inspired deviances and perversions.
Publicly self-identified gay men in Romania are few. publicly self-identified lesbians are virtually nonexistent. Not just the law but all the structures of a strongly male-centred and patriarchal society ensure that lesbian visibility will be extremely slow to develop. Social pressure for women to marry at an early age is matched by economic pressure redoubled amid the current crisis - which makes it almost impossible for women to lead independent lives. Hence, the very existence of lesbian identities or of any homosexual community which might come to the attention of the police is tenuous and inchoate at best.
A persistent rumour has it that there is lesbian group in Ploiesti, an industrial city 50 kms north of Bucharest but there is no evidence to corroborate this. The same goes for a private gay club in Constanta, a city by the black sea: it is so private no one knows anything certain about it! These examples are just reflecting how gay and lesbian life goes in Romania: with abundant rumours and very little certitudes.
For most of the younger Romanian homosexuals, emigrating seems to be the only way out, with an increasing trend of young taking advantage of the asylum laws in other European countries.