Romania’s government did everything in its power to make sure its referendum to enshrine a ban on same-sex marriage into the constitution would pass unchallenged. While they failed to mobilize same-sex marriage opponents over the weekend, their campaign once again stirred long-running anti-LGBT tensions in a country that only decriminalized homosexuality in 2001 and where same sex marriage or civil unions have been illegal since 2009. The referendum itself did not give voters a choice to vote in favor of allowing same-sex marriage, but only whether the constitutional definition of a “family” should continue to be gender-neutral. Either way, the result would not have had an immediate legal impact, but may have prevented possible future court rulings in favor of same-sex marriage or same-sex civil union. But as a growing number of government critics urged Romanians to boycott the vote, the same-sex marriage referendum also became a de facto confidence vote over the Social Democratic government.

Source: Washington Post October 08, 2018 11:03 UTC