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By Luiza Ilie
BUCHAREST (Reuters) – Romanians will vote this weekend on the need to include in their constitution that marriage should only be in a referendum that has seen activists lead insults against LGBT people and who, according to activists, are fraudulent.
The conservative state of Eastern Europe does not allow marriage or civil partnerships for same-sex couples, nor recognition of those who have been abroad.
Whatever the case may be, Romanians will vote on the need to restrict the constitutional definition of marriage from a "spouses" union to the initiative of a civil society group. called Family Coalition, which stated that the term gender-neutral could allow gay couples to earn the right to marry in the future.
The vote requires a participation rate of 30%, or more than 5 million people, to be valid.
Dozens of human rights groups, who are encouraging people to boycott the polls, warned that the approval would encourage further attempts to eradicate the rights of minority groups and push people to the polls. 39 European Union towards an authoritarian and populist way.
A few days before the vote, the government eased anti-fraud surveillance and limited the possibilities of contesting the outcome as opposed to ordinary elections, while the country's broadcasting regulator removed a deadline for campaigning.
"There is no effective and enforceable mechanism for verifying fraud in this referendum," said the Independent Expert Forum (EFOR), adding that these conditions had created "a climate of mistrust in the fairness of the process" .
The vote is supported by the Orthodox Church and other religions and obtained support from all but one political party in parliament.
Some campaign posters and ads have urged people to vote "yes" to defend family values or to risk gay couples stealing or adopting their children. An announcement said that a vote "No" would allow a man to marry a tree.
"Many fear that what has happened in other countries, such as the legalization of marriage between a man and an animal, can happen here," said the leader of the ruling Social Democratic Party, Romania, Liviu Dragnea, to the private TV channel Romania TV.
Romania decriminalized homosexuality in 2001, decades after neighboring countries. According to an annual survey conducted by ILGA-Europe, an umbrella equality organization, the country ranks 25th out of 28 EU Member States due to legislation, hate speech and discrimination against women. discrimination against LGBT persons.
(Edited by Toby Chopra)
The story was not edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
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