March in Romania’s capital calls for recognition of same-sex and different-sex partnerships
A march calling for civil partnerships for unmarried same-sex and different-sex couples took place in Bucharest, Romania’s capital, on 31 October 2026. Participants demanded that parliament pass legislation, Știrile ProTV reports.
Estimates of attendance differ: ProTV reported hundreds of participants, while public broadcaster TVR put the number at more than a thousand. Despite the rain, demonstrators walked from University Square to Victory Square.
The event was organised by Parteneriat Civil ACUM, a movement founded by Romanian LGBT organisation MozaiQ and blogger Alina Greavu, known as Aluziva. An organisers’ statement, published by news agency AGERPRES, says a petition for civil partnerships gathered more than 100,000 signatures. They were submitted to the Chamber of Deputies on 27 May; organisers say the authorities had given no public response by the time of the march.
Citing the 2021 census, organisers estimate that Romania has more than 360,000 unmarried couples. The figure covers all such couples, not just same-sex couples. MozaiQ head Vlad Viski told ProTV about difficulties partners face in visiting each other in hospital and keeping their home after one partner dies.
On 23 May 2023, the European Court of Human Rights found a violation of the right to respect for private and family life in Buhuceanu and Others v. Romania, a case brought by 21 same-sex couples. It required the country to provide recognition and protection for these relationships, leaving the authorities to choose the legal form.
In that case, the Romanian government argued that individual rights could be secured through private contracts between partners. The Court found this insufficient to justify denying couples legal recognition.
Uránia previously reported on Council of Europe supervision of Romania’s implementation of this judgment.
