Date: Mon, 14 Nov 1994 07:25:48 -0500 (GMT-0500) From: "Thomas W. Holt Jr." Subject: ROMANIAN PATRIARCH ON HOMOSEXUALITY (fwd) ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Sun, 13 Nov 1994 22:34:22 -0700 From: Mills Mike To: Multiple recipients of list GLB-NEWS Subject: ROMANIAN PATRIARCH ON HOMOSEXUALITY _______________________________________________________________________________ ROMANIAN PATRIARCH ON HOMOSEXUALITY EXCERPTED FROM: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Inc. Copyright 1994 RFE/RL, Inc. RFE/RL Daily Report No. 213, 9 November 1994 ROMANIAN PATRIARCH ON HOMOSEXUALITY. The head of the Romanian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Teoctist, called on the parliament to reverse its decision to ease laws against homosexuality, Reuters reported on 7 November. The same day Radio Bucharest said the patriarch had protested against the airing of "proselyte, anti-Orthodox and implicitly anti-national" broadcasts on Romanian television. In his petition to the parliament, Teoctist said the deputies should reconsider last week's vote. At the insistence of international organizations, the Chamber of Deputies banned only those homosexual acts that take place in public and disturb public order, while the Senate also voted to ban homosexual acts that cause a public scandal. Teoctist said it was not necessary for Romania to abandon its values in order to integrate with West European standards and institutions and that the country should maintain the old formulations in the Penal Code, which made any homosexual act a crime punishable by imprisonment. An RFE/RL correspondent in Bucharest reported on 7 November that a group of more than 100 theology students began a series of demonstrations outside the parliament building, demanding that homosexuals be prohibited from operating bars and magazines and spreading what they called "homosexual propaganda." -- Michael Shafir, RFE/RL, Inc.