ACCEPT is the primary nongovernmental organization advocating for the rights of
gayThe term gay was originally used, until well into the mid-20th century, primarily to refer to feelings of being "carefree", "happy", or "bright and showy"; it had also come to acquire some connotations of "immorality" as early as 1637....
,
lesbianLesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...
, bisexual, and
transgenderTransgender is a general term applied to a variety of individuals, behaviors, and groups involving tendencies to diverge from the normative gender roles....
(
LGBTLGBT is an initialism referring collectively to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people. In use since the 1990s, the term “LGBT” is an adaptation of the initialism “LGB” which itself started replacing the phrase “gay community” which many within LGBT communities felt did not represent...
) people in
RomaniaRomania is a country located in Southeastern and Central Europe, North of the Balkan Peninsula, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea. Almost all of the Danube Delta is located within its territory...
. It is based in
BucharestBucharest is the capital city, industrial and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmboviţa River....
and also acts as the Romanian representative at ILGA-Europe. The organisation also advocates on behalf of individuals with
HIVHuman immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which the immune system begins to fail, leading to life-threatening opportunistic infections. Infection with HIV occurs by the transfer of blood, semen, vaginal fluid,...
-
AIDSAcquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus ....
; and carries out many programs to encourage
safe sexSafe sex is defined as "Sexual activity engaged in by people who have taken precautions to protect themselves against sexually transmitted diseases such as AIDS." This is also referred to as safer sex, or protected sex, while unsafe sex or unprotected sex is sexual activity engaged in by people...
.
ACCEPT dates from 1994. It originally also enjoyed the English-language name Bucharest Acceptance Group.
ACCEPT is the primary nongovernmental organization advocating for the rights of
gayThe term gay was originally used, until well into the mid-20th century, primarily to refer to feelings of being "carefree", "happy", or "bright and showy"; it had also come to acquire some connotations of "immorality" as early as 1637....
,
lesbianLesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...
, bisexual, and
transgenderTransgender is a general term applied to a variety of individuals, behaviors, and groups involving tendencies to diverge from the normative gender roles....
(
LGBTLGBT is an initialism referring collectively to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people. In use since the 1990s, the term “LGBT” is an adaptation of the initialism “LGB” which itself started replacing the phrase “gay community” which many within LGBT communities felt did not represent...
) people in
RomaniaRomania is a country located in Southeastern and Central Europe, North of the Balkan Peninsula, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea. Almost all of the Danube Delta is located within its territory...
. It is based in
BucharestBucharest is the capital city, industrial and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmboviţa River....
and also acts as the Romanian representative at ILGA-Europe. The organisation also advocates on behalf of individuals with
HIVHuman immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which the immune system begins to fail, leading to life-threatening opportunistic infections. Infection with HIV occurs by the transfer of blood, semen, vaginal fluid,...
-
AIDSAcquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus ....
; and carries out many programs to encourage
safe sexSafe sex is defined as "Sexual activity engaged in by people who have taken precautions to protect themselves against sexually transmitted diseases such as AIDS." This is also referred to as safer sex, or protected sex, while unsafe sex or unprotected sex is sexual activity engaged in by people...
.
ACCEPT dates from 1994. It originally also enjoyed the English-language name Bucharest Acceptance Group. Its founders were David St Vincent, a veteran travel writer and author of the Insight Guide to Romania, the Revd Chris Newlands, then the Anglican chaplain to Romania and Bulgaria, Bogdan Voicu, a student, Guido Spaanbroek, a musician, and Jennifer Tanaka, a human rights worker. Some of these are straight, as were many of ACCEPT's most influential early members. ACCEPT later enjoyed much support from the Dutch government, which helped fund it.
ACCEPT became an influential lobbying organisation when Romania applied to join the Council of Europe. ACCEPT and supporters abroad helped keep the issue of gay rights in Romania a hot political issue and potential bar to Romania's membership. The repeal of Article 200, which illegalised, among other things, creating a "public scandal" was one of the movement's most important aims.
Later Romania's application to enter the EU created similar opportunities for gay rights activism in Romania.
In May 2005, ACCEPT organized the first-ever
gay prideLGBT pride or gay pride is the concept that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people should be proud of their sexual orientation and gender identity...
parade in Romania, as part of Bucharest's annual
GayFestGayFest is the annual gay pride festival of Bucharest, Romania, which first took place in 2004 and now occurs in May-June of each year, lasting for nearly a week. It is organised by the non-profit organisation ACCEPT, the country's largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights organisation...
. The event was nearly prohibited by the
Mayor of BucharestThe Mayor of Bucharest , sometimes known as the General Mayor, is the head of the Bucharest City Hall in Bucharest, Romania, which is responsible for city-wide affairs, such as the water system, the transport system and the main boulevards...
, who claimed that the city could not guarantee the safety of the marchers. However, a parade permit was eventually granted after President
Traian BăsescuTraian Băsescu is a Romanian politician and former Merchant Navy officer. He is the current President of Romania, after winning the office in the 2004 presidential election, and being inaugurated on December 20, 2004...
and Minister of Justice
Monica MacoveiMonica Luisa Macovei is a Romanian politician, lawyer and former prosecutor, currently a Member of the European Parliament from the Democratic Liberal Party. She was the Minister of Justice of Romania in the first cabinet of Prime Minister Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu...
weighed in favor of the march.
Romania was one of the last countries in Europe to decriminalize homosexual activity, decriminalization of consensual homosexual acts between adults in private occurred in 1996. The country's last remaining sodomy law
Article 200Article 200 was a section of the Penal Code of Romania that criminalised homosexual relationships. It was introduced in 1968, under the communist regime, during the rule Nicolae Ceauşescu, and remained in force until it was repealed by the Năstase government on 22 June 2001...
of the Penal Code was repealed in 2001 under pressure from the
Council of EuropeThe Council of Europe is the oldest international organisation working towards European integration, having been founded in 1949. It has a particular emphasis on legal standards, human rights, democratic development, the rule of law and cultural co-operation...
. Since then, however, Romania has made significant progress in
its gay rights recordLesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender persons in Romania may face legal challenges not experienced by non-LGBT residents. Romania, like a number of other Eastern European countries, remains socially conservative with regard to the rights of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender citizens...
, in part due to ACCEPT's lobbying.
As of July 2006, the executive director of ACCEPT is Florentina Bocioc, while the president is
Romaniţa IordacheRomaniţa Iordache is a Romanian human rights activist and the current president of ACCEPT, Romania's largest LGBT rights organisation. Between July 2003 and 2004, she was the vice president of the association....
and the vice-president is
Florin BuhuceanuFlorin Buhuceanu is a Romanian gay rights activist and the former executive director of ACCEPT, Romania's largest LGBT rights organisation. He is currently the vice-president of ACCEPT. While he was director at ACCEPT, the organisation organised the country's first LGBT pride festival,...
.
ACCEPT currently has two periodical publications:
InklusivInklusiv is a Romanian LGBT magazine, published by ACCEPT, the country's largest LGBT rights organisation. The magazine appears bi-monthly and was launched in May 2005...
, a bimonthly LGBT magazine, and
ENOLAENOLA is a Romanian magazine designed for lesbian and bisexual females and published by ACCEPT, the country's largest LGBT rights organisations. The first issue of ENOLA was released on September 14, 2006...
, a magazine designed for lesbians and bisexual women. Both are distributed throughout Romania (
Inklusiv is free).
Since March 24, 2008, the organisation also runs "INFO Accept", a
hotlineIn telecommunication, a hotline is a point-to-point communications link in which a call is automatically directed to the preselected destination without any additional action by the user when the end instrument goes off-hook...
for LGBT support issues such as coming out, overcoming discrimination or questions regarding sexual orientation.
See also
- LGBT rights in Romania
- Same-sex marriage in Romania
Romania does not recognise same-sex unions, either in the form of same-sex marriage or civil unions.-2004 election campaign:Romanian President Traian Băsescu said during his electoral campaign of late 2004 that he sees nothing wrong with same sex marriage...
- List of LGBT rights organisations
External links