RSS
AP: Romanian leader urges tolerance for same-sex couples
Romania's president has called for "tolerance and acceptance" of minorities as Romania considers whether to legally recognize a same-sex marriage between a U.S. citizen and a Romanian man, AP correspondent reports.
Klaus Iohannis, an ethnic German and a Lutheran, noted that he belonged to two minorities. "Tolerance and acceptance of others are vital. These are the values I believe in," he said.
President Klaus Iohannis stated on Wednesday that the path of religious fanaticism and ultimatum requests is wrong, in regards to making amendments to the Constitution on the family matter.
"In regards to making amendments to the Constitution I believe that it is not my turn yet to express my opinion, my turn will come later, but in this context I believe it is very important to reiterate a thing in which I believe, because I belong, I come from an ethnic and religious minority. I believe that we must return to what is called tolerance and accepting the other, accepting the other with good or bad. We are not all the same, not all the ethnic groups and all the religious groups are the same. It's wrong to listen or to walk the path of religious fanaticism and ultimatum demands, I don't believe in them and I don't support them, I am an advocate of tolerance, trust and openness toward others," the head of state said at the Cotroceni Palace, when asked about his opinion on the demarche of the 3 million Romanians regarding the Constitution amendment.
In July the Constitutional Court of Romania (CCR) found that the citizens legislative proposal regarding the Constitution's revision in regards to the matter that the family is built on the marriage between a man and a woman, meets the conditions to exercise the initiative.
On 23 May the Family Coalition lodged to the Senate a draft to amend the Constitution, which stipulates that the family is built on the marriage between a man and a woman, the initiative being signed by 3 million citizens. After having been lodged to the Senate, the draft law was presented on 7 June in the Standing Bureau and sent to the CCR in order to verify if the constitutional provisions are observed.
According to the Family Coalition this draft regarding the revision of the Constitution targets the family's explicit protection and the parents rights.
The formulation proposed for the 45 article, paragraph 1 of the Constitution is as follows: " Family is built on the free consented marriage between a man and a woman, on their equality and on the right and on the parents' duty to ensure the upbrining, education and training of the children." The current text of the Constitution refers to the marriage between spouses.
The initiators propose that the national referendum on amending the Constitution in that family matter is to be carried out at the same time with the parliamentary elections.