Francisco Guerreiro calls for rejection of Romanian bill harmful for transgender and gender-diverse persons

Lisbon, 24 June 2020 – MEP Francisco Guerreiro (Greens/EFA) signs a letter to the Romanian president calling for the rejection of a bill that forbids any discussion on gender identity theory or opinion in Romanian schools and educational establishments. 

By forbidding discussion, the bill “would further endanger the lives of men, women and girls, transgender and gender-diverse persons, since denying the reality of gender is failing to acknowledge the social realities lived by different people on the basis of their gender,” the signatories write.

The letter points out that according to the European Union Fundamental Rights Agency, Romania faces a significant problem regarding the protection of its LGBTI population from discrimination and violence, and, in particular, trans persons in the EU experience the most harassment due to being LGBTI: 1 in every 2 trans persons has claimed to have been harassed due to being LGBTI. Romania counts on the second largest percentage in the EU of persons in this situation (43%). 

The signatories recall that Romania has signed the Istanbul Convention in 2014, which makes it harder to understand how its implementation would be undertaken if the concept of gender is completely erased.  Under the Istanbul Convention, Romania has an obligation to prevent and combat gender-based violence and domestic violence, and, under the European Convention on Human Rights, it must uphold the principle of non-discrimination. The passing into law the above-mentioned bill is, therefore, against these two conventions. 

Read the full letter below.

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