The Family in Today’s Romania
An outlook of the definition family in Romania right now.
Christine Leșcu, 15.06.2016, 13:19
At a time when lifestyles are more varied than ever, in Europe and elsewhere, Romania also needs to grapple with the issue of defining the notion of family. An attempt to clarify the notion has recently been made, more specifically in relation to Article 48 in the Constitution. The first paragraph of the article states that the family is founded on the freely consented marriage between spouses, on their equality, and the duty of the parents to raise and educate children. A coalition of several non-governmental organizations called The Family Coalition wants the paragraph to be amended, specifying that the family is based on the union between a man and a woman. The coalition has gathered three million signatures in support of this amendment, and according to law, only half a million are needed to introduce an initiative to amend the Constitution. We asked Razvan Vastea, representing the coalition, what the motives are:
“At the time when the Constitution was written, including Article 48, everyone understood by spouses a man and a woman. The recent evolution internationally — in France, for instance, where same-sex marriage has been legalized — prompted us to attempt to clarify Article 48, in order for it to state clearly that spouses are a man and a woman, as, in fact, the Constitution stipulated at the time it was written, and as Romanias Civil Code specifies at present.”
As expected, this initiative sparked debates around various interpretations in the public sphere. Most of them were around the idea that the Family Coalition intends to prevent a possible plan to legalize gay marriage. This was because some of the members of the coalition are religious organizations, and the Romanian Orthodox Church supported the initiative. Its official position is against so-called new family models. Officially, the initiative of the Family Coalition targets Article 48 alone, but Razvan Vastea admits that it has a wider purpose:
“It also has a factor of protection against a movement we consider unnatural, and which runs counter to the harmonious development of a nation. When the Constitution was written, everyone understood that the term spouses meant a man and a woman. No one then imagined that, some 10 years later, spouses could mean two men or two women. The implications are very serious, from our point of view, if the term family were to be modified. The implications are mainly in the area of the birth and rearing of children. The dangers posed by the legalization of gay couples are secondary. We didnt necessarily think of them as issues to combat. They are implicit, or understood, whichever way you want to take it. Our initiative regards mainly the definition of the family as a union between a man and a woman. It is a purely democratic action. We are not attacking supposed rights of homosexual persons who want to have a family, because, in fact, Romanias legislation does not provide these rights.”
Considering that no members of the gay community in Romania have requested to be allowed to marry, the action of the Family Coalition could be seen as redundant. This is the opinion of feminist activist Oana Baluta, a lecturer with the School of Journalism and Communication, who said:
“This is a preventive mobilization which, in my opinion, is unnecessary, considering that in Romania same-sex marriage is not allowed, since it is explicitly forbidden by the Civil Code. The Civil Code states that marriage is the consensual union between a man and a woman. And even more than that, the Civil Code forbids any other type of cohabitation, such as civil union. In addition, the Civil Code does not recognize same-sex marriages officiated outside Romania, or civil unions outside Romania. Therefore, the Family Coalition demands legislation on something that is already in the books. From my point of view, this action is unnecessary, and only feeds the hatred towards a minority group, the LGBT community.”
However, official statements from the Family Coalition indicate that the organization militates for a certain type of family and a certain type of parental education, according to which children cannot grow up harmoniously unless they do it with a devoted mother and father. According to the members of the coalition, traditional family values would be at the core of proper society. According to them, the family formed by the union in marriage between a man and a woman has been and will be the most proper environment for giving birth to, raising and educating children. However, socio-economic conditions in todays Romania and a change in mentalities have led to different options, according to Oana Baluta:
“If we look at the structure of families in Romania, we see some being made up of a woman and a child, others of a man and a child. We have single parent families, families made up of grandparents and grandchildren, because the parents work abroad. We have families made up of aunts, uncles and nephews. According to the 2011 census, over 800,000 people of all ages stated they are living together but are not married, for various reasons. There are men and women living together with no civil union or being married legally or in church. Therefore, this initiative affects the rights of other types of relationships which we can legitimately call families. We have love, responsibility and respect within single parent families too. The question is: do we live in an imaginary and restrictive reality, or a concrete reality, as we have in daily life, in line with our choices and socio-economic limitations?”
If the initiative to amend Article 48 is deemed constitutional, Parliament may decide to hold a referendum, calling on all Romanian citizens to decide how they see the family. However, a serious debate is needed on all aspects of what family means in todays world.
