On Tuesday, July 22, the Romanian Municipality of Oradea banned a Pride march planned for the following weekend from taking place on city streets. The mayor, Florin Birta, issued a provision barring the organisation of the parade, citing infrastructure repairs and other events, which were conveniently announced the day of the ban, on all 11 proposed routes. This is the third consecutive year city officials have attempted to shut down Oradea Pride gatherings.
“The systematic refusal of the Oradea City Hall to allow the Oradea Pride March can no longer be interpreted as a mere coincidence or a logistics matter,” organisers from the NGO Ark Oradea wrote on Instagram, as translated from Romanian. “It’s a model of excluding parts of the local community and a deliberate strategy to obstruct the visibility of LGBTI people in the public space.”
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This was the first time Oradea Pride, which is embarking on its third annual instalment, was scheduled to include a march. Organisers, who have already filed a complaint against the city for denying their constitutional right to the freedom of assembly, called on participants to still join them for the parade on Saturday, July 26, in a show of peaceful protest.
“This is not a logistical accident—it’s a deliberate political decision to silence queer voices,” said Rémy Bonny, Executive Director of Forbidden Colours, a European LGBTQ+ action group based out of Brussels. “The right to peaceful assembly and freedom of expression are not optional. They are fundamental rights enshrined in both the Romanian Constitution and the EU Treaties. If these rights can be stripped away in Hungary and now Romania without legal consequences, then democracy itself is in danger.”
The attempt to shut down peaceful displays of Pride is on par with a troubling trend in some areas of Eastern Europe as of late. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has been vocal in his attacks on the LGBTQ+ community and banned Budapest Pride from taking place earlier this year. A record number of supporters took to the streets of Hungary’s capital to march in the June parade regardless of the government’s ban, gaining international press and showcasing resilience in the face of attempts to silence LGBTQ+ visibility.
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