Clashes mark Romanian gay pride

BBC News ^ | 06/04/2006

[Panerai]

Militant protesters trying to break up a gay rights march in the Romanian capital, Bucharest, have clashed with riot police who made dozens of arrests.

Ten people were reportedly injured in the violence at the GayFest event which saw hundreds of gay rights activists marching against discrimination.

They were also calling for the legalisation of same-sex marriages.

Hundreds of protesters turned out, some throwing eggs, stones and plastic bottles at the marchers.

Correspondents point out that homosexuality is legal in Romania but the public largely accepts the majority Orthodox Christian Church's view that it is a sin.

"Romania does not need you," was one chant heard among the protesters who included Orthodox nuns and a priest brandishing crosses.

Foreign supporters

Earlier, Bishop Ciprian Campineanu told a televised meeting that the Bucharest march was "an outrage to morality and to the family".

Marcher at the Bucharest GayFest

In pictures: Bucharest march

Reuters news agency reports that protesters were injured when they clashed with the police, who fired teargas and used batons to hold them at bay.

Gay people from Spain, Britain and Serbia also attended the march, the Associated Press reports.

[Panerai]

Well, I guess gay marches in Romania, Russia and Poland are not as popular as they are in NY or San Fran.

[coconutt2000]

Well, I guess gay marches in Romania, Russia and Poland are not as popular as they are in NY or San Fran.

Probably just as popular with those who support the hedonistic, immorality of the promiscuous lifestyle promised by the gay pride, gay fest supporters. Here in the U.S. we just tolerate them more.

The gay community does itself a huge disservice by allowing itself to be portrayed by those who use the gay issue to push an agenda that is anti-family, anti-stability, and anti-social. Then again, the more conservative sectors of the gay community are so small and are reviled by the Left and only barely tolerated by the right that it doesn't have any shoulders on which to stand and from which to speak.

[Jeff Chandler]

I admire the Eastern European people. They have more b***s and common sense than a lot of Americans. They are at least two steps above the French on the evolutionary scale.

[Jeff Chandler]

You have the devoutly Orthodox Christians in Russia and Romania, and then you have the devout Islamists in places like Iran and Saudi Arabia. Different religions, same fascist mindset.

Not at all. The Christians in Eastern Europe are pushing back against the normalization of obvious psychopathologies. They are confronting the militant butt slammers before they have a chance to infect the culture. The Moslems, on the other hand, just murder them.