Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people in Romania face legal challenges and discrimination not experienced by non-LGBTQ residents. Attitudes in Romania are generally conservative, with regard to the rights of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender citizens. In 2022, the advocacy group ILGA-Europe ranked Romania 26 out of 27 European Union (EU) countries for LGBTQ rights protection, behind all EU countries except Poland. However, in their 2026 report, Romania degraded to become the lowest ranked among all European Union countries.
In 2006, Romania was named by Human Rights Watch as one of five countries in the world that had made "exemplary progress in combating rights abuses based on sexual orientation or gender identity." However, in June 2020, it placed a blanket ban on the study of gender identity in education. The ban was struck down in December 2020 by Romania’s Constitutional Court. In April 2022, a bill passed in the Senate of Romania banning "gay propaganda" in schools. Also in April 2022, the senate passed a bill banning the discussion of homosexuality and gender identity in public spaces. It was approved by the Romanian Human Rights Commission but requires approval by the Chamber of Deputies, Romania's lower house of Parliament. The bill sparked a march by over 15,000 people in Romania's capital Bucharest in July 2022, calling for equal rights for gender and sexual minorities. The anti-LGBTQ parts of the law were removed in the final version.
There are no laws explicitly against gay citizens in Romania, aside from those that deny same-sex marriage rights. Since 2002, the age of consent has been equal for both heterosexual and homosexual sex, at 15 years of age, which was lifted to 16 in 2020 for both heterosexual and homosexual sex.
Laws against homosexuality The Penal Code promulgated by Alexandru Ioan Cuza in 1864, inspired mainly by the French Penal Code of 1810 (which, over time, had eliminated the penal discrimination of homosexuality), did not treat homosexual relations differently from heterosexual ones, and thus, homosexuality was only illegal if it was done on an unconsensual basis. Starting with 1878, the corresponding Transylvanian-Hungarian code penalised gay men only if they engaged in violent homosexual acts, such as rape or attempted rape. Likewise, Bukovina punished homosexual rape through old Austrian Article 129.
Both regions were annexed to Romania after the World War I, so Romania created a new national Penal Code. Influenced by anti-gay legislation in totalitarian fascist states, the Romanian Penal Code criminalised homosexuality in the country for the first time in 1937. This Code (as result of public debate on sexuality) banned public homosexuality only (Article 431 penalised "acts of sexual inversion committed between men or between women, if provoking public scandal"). In 1948, this "public" homosexuality was extended by a court so that it included all situations whatever public or private if "provoking scandal", thus homosexuality became de facto illegal. In the new Penal Code of the Romanian People's Republic, Article 431 toughened penalties to a minimum of two years' and a maximum of five years' imprisonment. In 1957 the "public scandal" reference was removed, and any consenting sexual intercourse between persons of the same sex was criminalised. After Nicolae Ceaușescu's rise to power, in 1968, the basic code was again revised, introducing Article 200 and moving the infraction from the public domain into the private: CODUL PENAL din 21 iunie 1968 (**republicat**) (*actualizat*) (updated until 28 March 2008)
Article 200 was purposeful to Ceaușescu regime in that, since 1970, it offered a pry to strengthen social control. These restrictions under the Penal Code were strictly unique to Romania and no other European country. The restrictions only included relationships and those who considered themselves homosexual were not punished but were instead considered as mentally ill. In the early 1990s, when gay rights activists, international human rights organizations, and the European Council started to press the Romanian government to decriminalise homosexuality and ensure equal rights for all citizens, the conservative political élites and the Orthodox Church claimed that sexual minorities did not exist in Romania prior to 1989 and that homosexuality was only an undesirable product of capitalism, a lifestyle induced by the Western democracies, and not a part of the heteronormative Romanian culture. In 1995, Romania applied for EU membership. As of 1995, it was one of only three countries in Europe that still criminalised homosexuality. Due mainly to strong international pressure, in 1996, the first paragraph of Article 200 was amended and only same-sex sexual activities performed in public or considered a source of public scandal were punished by the law. The last person to be imprisoned in Romania for being gay was released in 1998. In 2000, Romania began EU accession negotiations, and the country had to demonstrate progress in harmonizing its laws with the EU legislation. In particular, Romania had to prove that sexual minority human rights were not violated by the country's policies and legislation. And the possibility of eventual entry into the European Union had a powerful effect on legal change. In January 2001, Adrian Năstase's government adopted the Emergency Ordinance no. 89/2001, Ordonanța de urgență nr. 89/2001 pentru modificarea și completarea unor dispoziții din Codul penal referitoare la infracțiuni privind viața sexuală , text published in the Official Gazette of Romania which eliminated Art. 200 of the Penal Code and adjusted other articles referring to sex offences to avoid discriminatory treatment of offenders. This ordinance came into force in January 2002, after President Ion Iliescu signed the new law.
In late 2007, the right-wing Greater Romania Party proposed a law in the Senate that would ban the "propagation of ideas and manifestations by homosexuals and lesbians", designed primarily to prevent Bucharest's annual GayFest pride parade from taking place. The proposal was rejected by the Senate on 11 February 2008, with 17 votes for, 16 abstentions and 27 votes against.
Recognition of same-sex relationships
In September 2023, Romania was obligated to accept legal LGBTQ+ couples. The Constitution of Romania defines the family as a freely consented marriage between spouses, without specifying their gender. Despite this, legislation in effect leaves no room for interpretation for representatives of marital status. Marriage can only be the union of one man and one woman, and a same-sex couple can not legally receive state protection as a family.
Moreover, same-sex marriage is prohibited by the Civil Code and there is no difficulty in implementing these provisions.
In April 2013, the Green Party MP Remus Cernea announced a proposed law that would give same-sex marriages the same rights as heterosexual ones, prompting fierce reactions from opponents of the move. On 7 July 2013, Cernea introduced the bill in the Senate, awaiting to receive reports and approvals from the entitled Parliamentary Committees in December 2013. On 17 December 2013, the bill was rejected by the Senate with only 2 votes in favor versus 110 against. After being sent to the Chamber of Deputies, the bill was officially defeated by a vote of 298 to 4 on 11 June 2014.
On 7 June 2013, Romania had attempted to amend its Constitution to ban same-sex marriage through a commission tasked with amending it, with 15 MPs in the commission voting for, and only 3 abstentions. However, the amendment was withdrawn following both internal and international backlash.
In October 2014, Cernea once again submitted a civil partnership bill to Parliament. In April 2015, the Senate voted 49 to 8 against the bill. In December 2015, the bill arrived before the Chamber of Deputies where it was rejected once more.
A lawsuit initiated by a Romanian man seeking to have his marriage to an American man (the marriage was solemnised in Belgium, where same-sex marriage is legal) recognised came before the Constitutional Court, which consulted with the European Court of Justice on the matter. The European Court of Justice ruled in June 2018 in Coman and Others that same-sex spouses have the same right of residence if the marriage was legally performed in an EU country.
In March 2018, President of the Senate Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu and President of the Chamber of Deputies Liviu Dragnea voiced their intention to legalise civil partnerships for same-sex couples. In this regard, the National Council for Combating Discrimination introduced a bill through which heterosexual or homosexual couples who don't want or can't marry will be able to opt for the formalisation of a consensual union registered with the civil status officer. Also in 2018, Romania's highest court ruled that same-sex couples should be given the same residency rights in the country. In September 2018, the highest court ruled that same-sex couples should have the same legal rights as heterosexual couples. On 23 May 2023 the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Romania is breaching article eight of the European Convention on Human Rights by not allowing same-sex couples to marry or register civil partnerships. However, in regards to that, in November 2023, Prime-Minister Marcel Ciolacu said that Romania won't legalise either same-sex marriage or civil partnerships. A similar position was taken by Nicolae Ciucă, the president of the Senate of Romania and of the National Liberal Party.
Adoption and family planning
Law no. 273/2004 on the procedure of adoption in Romania does not stipulate as a condition of the adopter to be heterosexual, so under the domestic laws a homosexual can claim to adopt a child. Furthermore, in the case of E.B. v. France (2008), the Grand Chamber of the Strasbourg Court ruled that the authorities' refusal to allow a person to adopt a child on the basis of sexual orientation creates a difference of treatment incompatible with human rights. On the other hand, Romania does not have access to the joint adoption and adoption by the second parent.
It is legal for single women, including lesbians, to access means of assisted insemination, such as IVF. In 2005, the Constitutional Court ruled that it is unconstitutional to deny medically assisted reproduction, such as IVF, to individuals or those who are unmarried.
Gender identity and expression
Since 1996, it has been possible for someone who has gone through sex reassignment surgery to legally change their sex in their official documents. However, the law governing the ability of transgender persons to change their identity is vague and incomplete, resulting in inconsistency in judicial practice concerning legal recognition of gender identity. In some cases authorities denied recognition of a change in identity unless a sex-reassignment intervention had occurred. Because of the difficult legal procedure for gender recognition, it is often impossible for transgender persons to get documents reflecting their gender identity, which leads to difficulties in all services requiring identity documents (health care, transportation passes, banking services).