ACCEPT is a non-governmental organization that advocates for the rights of

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late ...

, lesbian,

bisexual Bisexuality is a romantic or sexual attraction or behavior toward both males and females, or to more than one gender. It may also be defined to include romantic or sexual attraction to people regardless of their sex or gender identity, wh ...

, and

transgender A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through ...

(

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term i ...

) people in

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, a ...

. It is based in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north ...

and also acts as the Romanian representative at

ILGA-Europe ILGA-Europe is the European region of the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association. It is an advocacy group promoting the interests of lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex ( LGBTI) people, at the European leve ...

. The organisation also advocates on behalf of individuals with

HIV The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of '' Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the immu ...

- AIDS and carries out several programs to encourage safe sex. ACCEPT was founded in 1996. At the time, the Article 200 from the Romanian legislation was in effect, which criminalised same-sex relationships and contributed to human rights violations, including police abuse against LGBT people. The main aim of ACCEPT, early in its history, was to lobby and campaign against this piece of legislation. ACCEPT had a decisive position in the repeal of Article 200 in 2001. Its role is recognized by everyone fighting for equality of LGBTs, including the European institutions, as it was awarded the 1999 EGALITE Prize in the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body ...

, being also nominated for the

Sakharov Prize The Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, commonly known as the Sakharov Prize, is an honorary award for individuals or groups who have dedicated their lives to the defence of human rights and freedom of thought. Named after Russian scientis ...

of the same year by the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adop ...

. Since 2004, ACCEPT has also been the organizer of GayFest (known today as Bucharest Pride), the yearly Romanian gay pride festival (complete with a pride march on its closing day). The first pride march took place in 2005. During 2005–2006, ACCEPT has published two periodical publications: ''Inklusiv'', a bimonthly LGBT magazine, and ''ENOLA'', a magazine designed for lesbians and bisexual women. Both were distributed throughout Romania (''Inklusiv'' was free). Since 24 March 2008, the organization has also run "INFO ACCEPT", a

hotline A hotline is a point-to-point communications link in which a call is automatically directed to the preselected destination without any additional action by the user when the end instrument goes off-hook. An example would be a phone that aut ...

for LGBT support issues such as coming out, overcoming discrimination or questions regarding sexual orientation.

Notes

External links

*
GayFest website
{{LGBT Romania LGBT political advocacy groups in Romania LGBT organizations in Romania Political advocacy groups in Romania

See also

Notes

External links