Reuters reports:

Tens of thousands of Romanians joined an LGBTQ Pride march in Bucharest on Saturday, demanding civil union partnership legislation and equal rights after a highly-contested presidential election last month buoyed the far right. The European Union state has so far ignored a 2023 ruling by the European Court of Human Rights, which found Romania had failed to enforce the rights of same-sex couples by refusing to recognise their relationships.

Socially conservative Romania decriminalised homosexuality in 2001, decades later than other parts of the EU, but still bars marriage and civil partnerships for same-sex couples. In Bucharest, marchers danced and carried the rainbow flag 20 years after the first Pride parade was held, carrying banners such as “Love is the worst feeling you could hate”, “Equality in love, equality in inheritance. Civil partnership for all”. Roughly 30,000 people attended the parade, ACCEPT estimated.

The Associated Press reports:

Victor Ciobotaru, executive director of ACCEPT Association, an LGBTQ+ rights group, told The Associated Press that throughout the 2024-2025 election cycle, the organization registered “a huge increase” in hate crimes against the LGBTQ+ community.

“We had more people complaining about being harassed on the streets or being attacked,” he said. “This hate speech doesn’t remain without effect. We can feel the tension within the society … We are going to continue to fight for our rights, no matter the political climate.”

Earlier on Saturday, right-wing groups who advocate for traditional family values and oppose same-sex marriage held an anti-LGBT countermarch in the capital, with many waving Romania’s tricolor national flag and others holding placards depicting religious icons.

Trump’s US ambassador to Romania, Darryl Nirenberg, is the former chief of staff to infamously anti-gay Sen. Jesse Helms, who croaked in 2008.