GayFest
| Bucharest Pride | |
|---|---|
Giant rainbow flag at the GayFest 2006 pride parade
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| Status | Active |
| Frequency | Annually |
| Location(s) | Bucharest |
| Country | Romania |
| Years active | 2004–present |
| Inaugurated | 3–9 May 2004 |
| Most recent | 19–25 June 2016 |
| Attendance | 2,500 (2016) |
| Activity | |
| Organised by |
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| Website | |
| Official website | |
Bucharest Pride, known previously as GayFest, is the annual festival dedicated to LGBT rights in Romania, taking place in Bucharest for nearly a week. It first took place in 2004 and now occurs in May–June of each year, culminating with the March of Diversity (Romanian: Marșul Diversității). It is organised by the non-profit organisation ACCEPT, the country's largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights organisation. The festival also receives funding from the Romanian Ministry of Health and the National Council for Combating Discrimination, as well as a number of private organisations, such as the Open Society Institute and the British Council in Romania.
Bucharest Pride features various LGBT cultural events, such as film screenings, art exhibitions, theatre and parties, as well as seminars and debates concerning LGBT social issues; since 2005 the festival has also included a gay pride parade.
The Romanian gay rights movement began gaining ground in the mid-1990s, after homosexual sex between two consenting adults in private was decriminalised in 1996. In the same year, Romania's first gay rights organisation, Accept, was founded in Bucharest, with two core aims: creating a better society for LGBT people in Romania, and changing negative social attitudes towards LGBT people. In the late 1990s, the LGBT rights movement was mainly concerned with lobbying for the repeal of Article 200, which continued to criminalise public displays and promotion of homosexuality. In this context, the issue of organising a gay pride festival was not viable, particularly considering that public manifestations of homosexuality could have been prosecuted under Section 5 of Article 200, which read:
It is important to note, however, that in October 2000, while Article 200 was still in force, ACCEPT hosted the 22nd European Conference of the International Lesbian and Gay Association in Bucharest. The event attracted around 100 participants from 27 countries, and created substantial dialogue and media attention about LGBT rights in Romania.
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