After hard-right candidate Calin Georgescu won round one of the presidential election last weekend, Romania will elect a new parliament on Sunday. Florin Buhuceanu is the first openly gay candidate to run for office in Romania.
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00:00I usually go to the polls, even if I don't have anyone to vote for.
00:04Have you ever voted for someone from a sexual minority?
00:07Well, it doesn't matter. What matters is the ability of the person.
00:11I am an Orthodox woman. I am married to a man. I have two children, four grandchildren.
00:19So, I would like for what I did to continue. I won't say much more.
00:26They are as quiet as we are. They don't bother us.
00:34It's not crazy that they will convince others. It is what it is.
00:38They are very tolerant, but I don't have preferences like this.
00:47In a strongly Christian Orthodox country like Romania,
00:51running for Parliament as an openly gay man is certainly not an easy undertaking.
00:56But Florin Buhuceanu, one of the country's best-known LGBTQ plus activists, is undeterred.
01:03It's hard. It's hard. It's hard.
01:05But it's a type of dialogue that you have to have with the citizen
01:09in order to understand who you are, what you want, what you hope from him, from her.
01:13Did anyone recognize you?
01:16Yes, two people, I think from the age of 20 until now.
01:20They knew who I was and they knew where I was from.
01:23It was nice to see them.
01:25Buhuceanu and his partner Victor Ciobatoru are getting ready to go out campaigning.
01:30They live together in the Romanian capital, Bucharest.
01:33Buhuceanu says that it was important for him to enter politics
01:36because sexual minorities in Romania still experience discrimination.
01:41I am old. I want to make sure that soon I will be able to live legally as a family in this country.
01:48And I want to make sure that everything that means
01:56the daily life of a family man will be protected by the law.
02:02This will change a lot and who we are, me and Victor,
02:08in a relationship, in a relationship with our neighbors,
02:12in a relationship with those from the neighborhood,
02:14in a relationship with those from Bucharest.
02:16It's a change of status.
02:18For almost 30 years, Florin Buhuceanu has been fighting for the rights
02:22of the LGBTQ plus community to which he belongs.
02:25Although the European Court of Human Rights ruled in May 2023
02:29that Romania must recognize same-sex unions, nothing has changed.
02:35Several draft laws have still not been passed by the Romanian Parliament.
02:39We are in a situation where, in the absence of a political representation,
02:43no political representation so far,
02:45we really need a certain type of political support.
02:49It is much harder to keep as an independent.
02:53I must admit.
02:55That's why Buhuceanu agreed to run for the Liberal Repair Party
02:59in Sunday's parliamentary election.
03:03It was the first political party that wrote in its political program
03:09the need for the adoption of civil partnership
03:13as a form of defending the right to family life
03:17for those in my community.
03:21And it was natural to collaborate with colleagues
03:25with whom I have worked for a long time.
03:28Buhuceanu believes that his candidacy is a very important step
03:32towards creating a kind of normality for the LGBTQ plus community in Romania.
03:36It is an extremely important signal for those who are today
03:40young and very young, who often leave Romania
03:44precisely because they know that they have no chance as a family
03:48in this country and do not want to live their lives unpredictably.
03:55It is a signal that will motivate some of them
03:59to stay in Romania, to start a family here
04:03and to have a good life.
04:08Buhuceanu pays a visit to the offices of Repair.
04:12His colleague, Catalin Tinița, is also running for parliament.
04:17First of all, it is a kind of duty to represent those who are not represented.
04:24We enter politics to increase the space of freedom.
04:28Hannah Arendt, the philosopher, says that the true politicians
04:32or people who are relevant in politics are the ones who create the island of freedom.
04:36Ramonas Drugariu is co-president of the party.
04:40We do not talk about these things and we bring certain polarizing issues
04:44to the electoral campaigns because they benefit one or the other.
04:48And the discussion I have is that it should be between the electoral campaigns.
04:53The LGBTQ community faces a lot of animosity.
04:57It is something you get used to.
05:01People want to reduce you to a certain category.
05:05They want to use this subject as a sexual orientation
05:09because they can make a negative political campaign out of it.
05:13But again, you get used to this type of attack.
05:18After a day on the campaign trail, Buhuceanu finds peace at home
05:22in his relationship. He hopes that one day not only his relationship
05:26but others in the LGBTQ plus community will be recognized by the state.