BOYCOTT OF ROMANIA BECAUSE OF GOVERNMENT BAN OF GAY GROUPS
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Andy Quan, spokesperson for the International Lesbian and Gay
Association announced that "The vote by Romania's parliament
to ban gay bars, clubs, associations, media and organizations
breaks the commitment to decriminalize homosexuality, given by
the government over three years ago." The ILGA is responding with
a boycott of Romanian wine, tourism and TAROM, the national airline.
"It is a flagrant violation of the European Convention on
Human Rights and condemns Romania's sexual minorities to further
state persecution."
Romania has been under pressure from the Council of Europe
to decriminalize homosexual behavior. Instead, Romanian legislators
passed two new anti-gay laws. One states that "Sexual intercourse
between persons of the same sex, taking place in public, or producing
a public scandal, is punishable by one to five years imprisonment."
In Romania, a public scandal is "anything two or more people find
offensive." The other states that "Propositioning or enticing a
person to take part in sexual relations with a person of the same
sex, as well as propaganda or association or any other acts of
proselytism with the same purpose, is punishable by one to five
years imprisonment." The latter law might be interpreted to
criminalize this home page, because of its
homosexual educational content.
The ILGA notes: "Lesbians, gay men and bisexuals and even
heterosexuals who simply give a positive representation of
homosexuality in conversation face five years behind bars. Of
course, gay clubs, bars, helplines, media, associations and even
meetings between two known lesbians, gay men or bisexuals will
also be banned."
The ILGA's planned boycott is described in their WWW site at:
http://www.raglb.org.uk/boyc.htm
Their E-mail address is boycott@raglb.org.uk
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