Background

Romania is one of the few EU countries which does not allow same-sex marriage or civil union for LGBT couples. In 2015 conservative organizations, under the banner of the Coalition For Family, attempted to further deteriorate the rights of the LGBT community by proposing a referendum for a constitutional amendment to explicitly ban same-sex marriage.

This was the political context in which MozaiQ, a membership-based LGBT organization, was founded. The group emerged after a series of community meetings in the summer of 2015 to improve the quality of life and strengthen the representation of LGBT people, particularly vulnerable groups such as sex workers, people living with HIV, the elderly, and those living precariously. Currently, it has 70 members and is run by a board of seven people. Even though MozaiQ was initially a self- help group, the course of events prompted it to become more political.

This prompted a broad pro-LGBT alliance of civil society organizations and political parties to protect LGBT rights.

community organizing contributed to the movement’s work with massive leadership development efforts and by strengthening the movement outside the capital.

Organizing process:

In response to the conservative petition drive, MozaiQ and its members

• Issued an open letter supporting the LGBT community signed by a thousand celebrities and public figures, and they launched a petition in which 12,000 people urged the Parliament to protect LGBT rights.
• Organized the first public march outside of Pride, and for the first time, introduced a clear political message to a public demonstration of the Romanian LGBT community.
• Build the capacity of the LGBT movement outside of the capital, Bucharest. Where groups did not exist, MozaiQ supported local activists to form their own LGBT groups for the first time.
• With time, local LGBT groups started to cooperate, sharing tactics, and coming up with their strategies.
• Regularly organized community forums and debates to keep the community involved so that the LGBT community would primarily shape the campaign strategy.
• When the ruling Socialist government (PSD) decided call the vote on the referendum was set in October 2018, the alliance opposing the referendum called for a boycott of the vote with the goal of denying the referendum the mandatory level of participation while at the same time mobilizing thousands of election observers to cover every precinct in the country.

 Outcomes:

The main outcomes of the process were:

• The coalition succeeded in defeating the petition at the ballot box.
• Opposing the referendum led to the consolidation of networks of solidarity between different marginalized groups. Roma organizations and political leaders positioned themselves against the referendum from the start and were staunch allies throughout the campaign. Feminist and disability organizations and various other groups also showed solidarity. In the aftermath of the referendum, there was more trust and support between LGBT, Roma, and feminist groups, leading to more intersectional work.
• In five years, Romania went from having only a couple of LGBT organizations based in Bucharest to having a dozen LGBT groups and organizations spread out across the country and using different strategies to further LGBT rights.
• In June 2017, 110 civil society organizations formed the Respect Platform, a pro-LGBT alliance. MozaiQ’s primary goal in this alliance was to increase the visibility and the public participation of the LGBT community and to advance the discussion on LGBT rights.
• The percentage of Romanians supporting legal recognition of same-sex relationships more than doubled since 2016, now reaching 43 percent according to recent polls.

Lessons learned:

In the process of organizing this campaign, MozaiQ evolved as an organization. It was forced to grow rapidly beyond its initial scope and means. The members who initially wanted to do small- scale community projects had to develop as leaders, learn about the legal aspects of changing the Constitution, learn and apply community organizing strategies, coordinate large groups of volunteers, develop large communication campaigns and transfer know-how to local groups across the country. The growth rate was at times beyond the resources and capacities of the organization, with many leaders burning out in the process. Still, the lessons learned helped the organization develop more sustainably beyond the referendum. The referendum also proved to be a huge opportunity for the whole LGBT community. Putting the topic of LGBT rights on the public agenda helped grow the degree of acceptance.

For a few small organizations doing community organizing, it is challenging to prevent a discriminative referendum that is supported by powerful political parties, national institutions, and churches. On the other hand, community organizing can give voice to the voiceless and make people who lost hope believe that they can influence politics if they cooperate. In the case of MozaiQ, it also helped new leaders grow and strengthened networks of organizations. Through their efforts, they have demonstrably shifted the discourse on LGBT rights in Romania.

 Source

ECON (2021). The Power of Organizing: Stories of Community Organizing Campaigns From Across Europe.