Eastern European prejudices regarding homosexuals

As in many Eastern European countries, homosexuality continues to be a taboo subject in Romania. A gay parade which in the past has repeatedly been the target of violent attacks is scheduled for next Saturday in Bucharest. Writer Mircea Cartarescu comments: "A nation without homosexuals can only be the result of a monstrous policy of extermination. During the Nazi era Jews, contemporary artists, gypsies and also homosexuals were classified as degenerates and murdered. ... Most of those who hate gays cite the sentence in the bible in which Jehovah says to the Jews: 'There should be no homosexuals among you'. ... It is sinful that a universal book like the bible is generating hate in the same way it once engendered anti-Semitism and homophobia among the narrow-minded. In respectable countries gays are regarded as an unconventional element in a uniform world. Gay festivals and parades are simply carnivals in such countries. Here in Eastern Europe many of us unfortunately persist in our prejudices; our very first reaction to homosexuals is repression."

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