LGBT activists in Moldova hold march without police protection

Sun, 18 June 2023 
By Alexander Tanas

CHISINAU (Reuters) - Activists from Moldova's LGBT community held a pride march on Sunday that for the first time needed no heavy police cordons to protect them from protesters largely linked to the Orthodox church.

The peaceful event, with hundreds strolling through the centre of the capital, signalled a change in social attitudes, though public opposition to equal rights for gays still runs high in many ex-Soviet states.

Since the 2020 election of pro-European President Maia Sandu, Moldova has set a foreign policy goal of joining the European Union -- a pledge underscored by an outdoor public assembly last month attended by thousands.

"Judging from the march, European Moldova is progressively moving towards a normal society of people with diverse views," Alexei Marcicov of the event's organiser, GenderDoc-M, told Reuters.

"Political will is still needed in order for us to be accepted in normal fashion in this society," Marcicov added.

About 100 Orthodox clerics and their sympathisers stood at one point on the parade route with placards reading, "We stand for the traditional family."

But there was no contact between the two opposing groups and no need for police intervention.

Moldova lies between Ukraine and European Union member Romania and about 90% of its population professes ties to one of two branches of the Orthodox Church -- one linked to Russia, the other to Romania.

The Moscow-linked church denounced the march; the Romanian branch tried to play down its importance.

Movements for LGBT rights are also making progress in Ukraine, where a 2021 march took place without incident. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has expressed sympathy for upholding gay rights while ruling out constitutional changes to allow single-sex marriages while the country is at war.

In Russia, President Vladimir Putin has derided the LGBT movement and led a drive to crack down on "non-traditional" lifestyles that he says are evidence of Western moral decay.

Russia's lower house of parliament gave initial backing last week to legislation that would ban gender reassignment surgery.

(Editing by Ron Popeski and Leslie Adler)