Romanian Family Referendum Fails to Meet Turnout Threshold

Romanian human rights activists and some politicians cheered on Sunday night as a referendum aiming to change the constitution so that it would only allow marriage between a man and a woman has failed to overcome the 30 per cent turnout threshold.

Despite the government keeping polling stations open for two days and the country's powerful Orthodox Church making efforts to mobilize supporters, only 20.4 per cent of Romanians cast ballots on Saturday and Sunday. 

"We showed that we, as citizens, want a Romania based upon democratic values, a country where respect, equality and common sense guides society," Romanian LGBT rights organization Accept said in a press release sent to the media. 

"We have been demonized for three years," Vlad Viski, director of MosaiQ LGBT rights organization said on Sunday, as a handful of activists celebrated in a pub in central Bucharest. "This is a signal that Romanians are not a people who like to hate. And it's a signal for the Orthodox Church that religion has no place in politics," he added. 

Romanians were called to the polls after three years of intense political debates over LGBT rights, after the conservative Coalition for the Family - an umbrella organization for right-wing and church-backed NGOs - raised 3.2 million signatures and submitted a bill to parliament to ban gay marriage in the constitution.

Romanian Civil Code adopted in 2009 already bans same-sex marriage.

Despite calls from local and international rights organizations to drop the bill that has been deemed an infringement of human rights, the Romanian Senate voted in favour of the referendum on September 11, after the lower chamber approved it in June 2017.

The Social Democratic Party, which holds a large majority in...

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