Coaliția pentru Familie
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Coaliția pentru Familie (CpF, ; English: Coalition for Family) is an association of about 30 Romanian non-governmental organizations. It seeks to promote the traditional family, and it is also involved in the
anti-abortion movement Anti-abortion movements, also self-styled as pro-life or abolitionist movements, are involved in the abortion debate advocating against the practice of abortion and its legality. Many anti-abortion movements began as countermovements in respon ...
. In 2016, 'Coaliția pentru familie' gathered 3 million signatures in favor of replacing "spouses" with "a man and a woman" in article 48 of the Romanian constitution. Immediately after the 3 million signatures were submitted to the Romanian Parliament, an open letter was published in the support of LGBT community, signed by 1000 public figures (including film producers, pop singers, people from the fashion industry, artists, intellectuals). The letter of support soon became an online petition raised over 10.000 more signatures. The American evangelical Christian organization
Liberty Counsel Liberty Counsel is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt religious liberty organization that engages in litigation related to evangelical Christian values. Liberty Counsel was founded in 1989 by its chairman Mathew Staver and its president Anita L. Staver, who a ...
and Alliance Defending Freedom International have both publicly supported the initiative and have submitted briefs to the
Constitutional Court A constitutional court is a high court that deals primarily with constitutional law. Its main authority is to rule on whether laws that are challenged are in fact unconstitutional, i.e. whether they conflict with constitutionally established ...
in support of a referendum. The
Romanian Orthodox Church The Romanian Orthodox Church (ROC; ro, Biserica Ortodoxă Română, ), or Patriarchate of Romania, is an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox church in full communion with other Eastern Orthodox Christian churches, and one of the nine patriarchates ...
also announced its official support for the initiative in mid-January 2016. In July 2016, the Constitutional Court issued a unanimous ruling that allows the referendum proposal to move forward. In response, LGBT advocacy groups, like
Accept Accept may refer to: * Acceptance, a person's assent to the reality of a situation etc. * Accept (band), a German heavy metal band ** ''Accept'' (Accept album), their debut album from 1979 * ''Accept'' (Chicken Shack album), 1970 * ACCEPT (or ...
, MozaiQ and TRANSform, expressed dissatisfaction with CCR’s decision, claiming that it could lead "to a rise in social tensions and hate crimes". On July 20, 2016, right after the Constitutional Court released its decision allowing the initiative to ban gay marriage in the Constitution to move forward, the LGBT community reacted and organized an unauthorized protest in University Square in Bucharest, with an attendance of 50. Under Romanian law, the constitution can be changed after a proposal by the president, the government, a quarter of the members of the Parliament of Romania or at least 500,000 citizens. Parliament must then approve the revision, which must then pass a nationwide referendum. The coalition's efforts to amend the constitution have been ongoing since 2013, when Amnesty International helped defeat a similar amendment. However, it participated in a successful campaign against the introduction of civil partnerships into law. Other proposals presented by the coalition include the taxation of celibacy, the banning of adoptions by
single parents A single parent is a person who has a child or children but does not have a spouse or live-in partner to assist in the upbringing or support of the child. Reasons for becoming a single parent include divorce, break-up, abandonment, becoming wi ...
and the active discouragement of sexual intercourse between unmarried persons. The initiative was approved by the Senate on 11 September 2018 and the Romanian constitutional referendum took place on 6 and 7 October 2018, failing due to insufficient turnout.


Controversies and criticism

The coalition bills itself as an independent civic initiative, unaffiliated to any religion. However, among its 43 listed members, many share strong political and religious views.
Southern Poverty Law Center The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit legal advocacy organization specializing in civil rights and public interest litigation. Based in Montgomery, Alabama, it is known for its legal cases against white s ...
calls the association "a nebulous umbrella group of local rightwing organizations" and raises concerns over the involvement of American anti-LGBT groups, such as Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF),
Liberty Counsel Liberty Counsel is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt religious liberty organization that engages in litigation related to evangelical Christian values. Liberty Counsel was founded in 1989 by its chairman Mathew Staver and its president Anita L. Staver, who a ...
,
World Congress of Families The World Congress of Families (WCF) is a United States coalition that promotes Christian right values internationally. It opposes same-sex marriage, pornography, and abortion, while supporting a society built on "the voluntary union of a man and ...
(WCF) and "European Center of Law and Justice" (ECLJ), who "filed legal briefs, lobbied or campaigned in favor of the change". APOR (The Association for Parents pro Religious Courses) is at the top of the list, which successfully campaigned for religious classes in schools, and has its headquarters in the social center of The Archdiocese of Bucharest. Other religious NGOs are „Vladimir Ghika” - The Association of Romanian Catholic Families, Association Ieromonah Arsenie Boca, several Christian-Orthodox associations and an Orthodox news website called "Lăcașuri Ortodoxe". Pro Vita București and Alianța Familiilor are two other notable members with a strong pro-life stance, which also favor
conversion therapy Conversion therapy is the pseudoscientific practice of attempting to change an individual's sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression to align with heterosexual and cisgender norms. In contrast to evidence-based medicine and cl ...
treatments. An internal document from Pro Vita, which presents its political agenda for Romania, deems sexual minorities "morally inferior", and states that divorce, same-sex marriage, abortion (even for rape cases), and contraception do not pertain to the individual's private life. Pro Vita seeks to "impose authentic moral principles" based on a "God-given natural law" onto society at large, including all those who oppose their views. The Romanian
Accept Accept may refer to: * Acceptance, a person's assent to the reality of a situation etc. * Accept (band), a German heavy metal band ** ''Accept'' (Accept album), their debut album from 1979 * ''Accept'' (Chicken Shack album), 1970 * ACCEPT (or ...
and Mozaiq organizations have been highly critical of the initiative and have raised concerns about its members. Accept draws attention to the fact that Mihai Gheorghiu, who is leading the initiative group, is also one of the main instigators of the 2013 ''"homophobic attack"'' at a public cinema. The U.S. Embassy has also accused Mihai Gheorghiu of organizing the anti-LGBT protest at said location, where attendees disrupted the movie, sang religious songs and shouted "Get out!", "Death to the homosexuals!", "Shame!" and other provocative insults. It was also said that some protesters allegedly used the
Nazi salute The Nazi salute, also known as the Hitler salute (german: link=no, Hitlergruß, , Hitler greeting, ; also called by the Nazi Party , 'German greeting', ), or the ''Sieg Heil'' salute, is a gesture that was used as a greeting in Nazi Germany. Th ...
, although no evidence was presented on that matter. Pro Vita București organisation is led by Bogdan Stanciu who also managed the Romanian branch of AlterMedia before 2007, an international extremist network founded by American white nationalist and former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard
David Duke David Ernest Duke (born July 1, 1950) is an American white supremacist, antisemitic conspiracy theorist, far-right politician, convicted felon, and former Grand Wizard of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. From 1989 to 1992, he was a membe ...
. Stanciu was a member of
Noua Dreaptă ''Noua Dreaptă'' ( en, The New Right) is an ultranationalist, far-right organization in Romania and Moldova, founded in 2000. The party claims to be the successor to the far-right Iron Guard, with its aesthetics and ideology being directly i ...
between 2000 and 2005, a nationalist far-right organization linked to physical attacks against gays. He now denies any connections with the party. Stanciu is also the founder of the "Eurosceptic", an anti-EU and anti-immigration blog. Accept says Stanciu has close ties to
Aleksandr Dugin Aleksandr Gelyevich Dugin ( rus, Александр Гельевич Дугин; born 7 January 1962) is a Russian political philosopher, analyst, and strategist, who has been widely characterized as a fascist. Born into a military intelligen ...
, a Russian political scientist known for his fascist views. Peter Costea, the founder of Alianța Familiilor, was one of the coordinators of the first initiative to amend the Constitution to define marriage as "the union between a man and a woman" back in 2006. As his website states, it was done ''"with the help of affluent religious personalities in Romania".'' There are also strong concerns about the rising hate crimes against gays and the stigmatization of the LGBT community due to the campaign against same sex marriage. In 2019, Peter Costea and most members of Alianța Familiilor formed a political party called National Rebirth Alliance to further oppose same-sex marriage and promote
Christian values Christian values historically refers to values derived from the teachings of Jesus Christ. The term has various applications and meanings, and specific definitions can vary widely between denominations, geographical locations and different schools ...
. Romania’s president, Klaus Iohannis, the then Prime Minister Dacian Cioloș and socialist leader Liviu Dragnea have clashed over the rights of same-sex couples in the country. In a speech in October 2016, Klaus Iohannis has called for tolerance and acceptance for minorities as the country considers banning same-sex marriage, noting he himself was part of two minorities as he is ethnically German and Lutheran, in a primarily Christian Orthodox country. Dacian Cioloș voiced his support for the ‘traditional family’, while Liviu Dragnea declared himself to be a religious fanatic. On October 7, 2016 the Parliament was set to debate a potential referendum which would see citizens vote on whether the constitution should define marriage as between a man and a woman, but it has decided to postpone the issue until after the upcoming elections. On November 19, 2016, the LGBT community in Bucharest organized a march with over 500 people in attendance, right in the middle of the campaign for the parliamentary elections, when the issue of gay marriage had become one of the topics debated. Right after the LGBT march on November 19, titled “God Doesn’t Do Politics”, one of the LGBT activists who helped organize the event, received death threats over the phone. 47 organizations and other 2000 people have asked the Judicial Committee from the Chamber of Deputies for an alternative legal protection of couples through civil union. In October 2017 Coaliția pentru Familie and
Liberty Counsel Liberty Counsel is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt religious liberty organization that engages in litigation related to evangelical Christian values. Liberty Counsel was founded in 1989 by its chairman Mathew Staver and its president Anita L. Staver, who a ...
toured Romania with
Kim Davis Kimberly Jean Davis (; born September 17, 1965) is a former county clerk for Rowan County, Kentucky, who gained international attention in August 2015 when she defied a U.S. federal court order to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. ...
, the person who refused to legalize a same-sex marriage in USA, pushing the message that ''"religious persecution"'' would be the fate of the Romanian people if same sex marriage was passed.


References


External links

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Coaliția pentru Familie Facebook
{{DEFAULTSORT:Coalitia pentru familie Political advocacy groups in Romania