Romania: First openly gay candidate runs for parliament

DW (English)

After hard-right candidate Calin Georgescu won round one of the presidential election last weekend, Romania will elect a new parliament on Sunday. Florin Buhuceanu is the first openly gay candidate to run for office in Romania.

Transcript

00:00I usually go to the polls, even if I don't have anyone to vote for.

00:04Have you ever voted for someone from a sexual minority?

00:07Well, it doesn't matter. What matters is the ability of the person.

00:11I am an Orthodox woman. I am married to a man. I have two children, four grandchildren.

00:19So, I would like for what I did to continue. I won't say much more.

00:26They are as quiet as we are. They don't bother us.

00:34It's not crazy that they will convince others. It is what it is.

00:38They are very tolerant, but I don't have preferences like this.

00:47In a strongly Christian Orthodox country like Romania,

00:51running for Parliament as an openly gay man is certainly not an easy undertaking.

00:56But Florin Buhuceanu, one of the country's best-known LGBTQ plus activists, is undeterred.

01:03It's hard. It's hard. It's hard.

01:05But it's a type of dialogue that you have to have with the citizen

01:09in order to understand who you are, what you want, what you hope from him, from her.

01:13Did anyone recognize you?

01:16Yes, two people, I think from the age of 20 until now.

01:20They knew who I was and they knew where I was from.

01:23It was nice to see them.

01:25Buhuceanu and his partner Victor Ciobatoru are getting ready to go out campaigning.

01:30They live together in the Romanian capital, Bucharest.

01:33Buhuceanu says that it was important for him to enter politics

01:36because sexual minorities in Romania still experience discrimination.

01:41I am old. I want to make sure that soon I will be able to live legally as a family in this country.

01:48And I want to make sure that everything that means

01:56the daily life of a family man will be protected by the law.

02:02This will change a lot and who we are, me and Victor,

02:08in a relationship, in a relationship with our neighbors,

02:12in a relationship with those from the neighborhood,

02:14in a relationship with those from Bucharest.

02:16It's a change of status.

02:18For almost 30 years, Florin Buhuceanu has been fighting for the rights

02:22of the LGBTQ plus community to which he belongs.

02:25Although the European Court of Human Rights ruled in May 2023

02:29that Romania must recognize same-sex unions, nothing has changed.

02:35Several draft laws have still not been passed by the Romanian Parliament.

02:39We are in a situation where, in the absence of a political representation,

02:43no political representation so far,

02:45we really need a certain type of political support.

02:49It is much harder to keep as an independent.

02:53I must admit.

02:55That's why Buhuceanu agreed to run for the Liberal Repair Party

02:59in Sunday's parliamentary election.

03:03It was the first political party that wrote in its political program

03:09the need for the adoption of civil partnership

03:13as a form of defending the right to family life

03:17for those in my community.

03:21And it was natural to collaborate with colleagues

03:25with whom I have worked for a long time.

03:28Buhuceanu believes that his candidacy is a very important step

03:32towards creating a kind of normality for the LGBTQ plus community in Romania.

03:36It is an extremely important signal for those who are today

03:40young and very young, who often leave Romania

03:44precisely because they know that they have no chance as a family

03:48in this country and do not want to live their lives unpredictably.

03:55It is a signal that will motivate some of them

03:59to stay in Romania, to start a family here

04:03and to have a good life.

04:08Buhuceanu pays a visit to the offices of Repair.

04:12His colleague, Catalin Tinița, is also running for parliament.

04:17First of all, it is a kind of duty to represent those who are not represented.

04:24We enter politics to increase the space of freedom.

04:28Hannah Arendt, the philosopher, says that the true politicians

04:32or people who are relevant in politics are the ones who create the island of freedom.

04:36Ramonas Drugariu is co-president of the party.

04:40We do not talk about these things and we bring certain polarizing issues

04:44to the electoral campaigns because they benefit one or the other.

04:48And the discussion I have is that it should be between the electoral campaigns.

04:53The LGBTQ community faces a lot of animosity.

04:57It is something you get used to.

05:01People want to reduce you to a certain category.

05:05They want to use this subject as a sexual orientation

05:09because they can make a negative political campaign out of it.

05:13But again, you get used to this type of attack.

05:18After a day on the campaign trail, Buhuceanu finds peace at home

05:22in his relationship. He hopes that one day not only his relationship

05:26but others in the LGBTQ plus community will be recognized by the state.

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