Gay Moldova

Sexual minorities in Moldova are one of the most vulnerable and discriminated social groups. During the last ten years GenderDoc-M has registered 15 cases of gay murder because of homophobia and numerous cases of violence, discrimination and intolerant attitude to LGBT community. Law does not protect the rights of sexual minorities in Moldova nor does it prevent discrimination. At the present moment GenderDoc-M is the only organization in Moldova that fights for the rights of sexual minorities and offers them different kinds of social and informational support.

Information Center GenderDoc-M is the general Pride organizer. Official partner of the project is the Swedish Gay and Lesbian Federation – RFSL. General sponsor is Stockholm Gay and Lesbian Pride. The other sponsors of the Pride are Peace Corps USA in Moldova, Swedish Liberal Party, and Italian Consortium of Solidarity. GenderDoc-M works in collaboration with COC (Netherlands) with financial support of the Royal Dutch Embassy in Ukraine and Moldova.

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The Second Lesbian and Gay Pride “Rainbow over the Dnister – 2003”

From 2 to 4 May in Chisinau the second Lesbian and Gay Pride “Rainbow over the Dnister – 2003” took place. This event included a variety of different activities: cultural, sportive and entertaining. All the activities were aimed to promote tolerance towards LGBT community, to give to society information about different aspects of homosexuality, and to make the LGBT community more “visible” in Moldovan society. During Pride the following activities took place: an art and photo exhibition where works of Moldovan painters and photographers were presented, an interactive theatric forum on discrimination, a recognition ceremony «In Memoriam of the Victims of Homophobia», a “Safer Sex Party”, and a training for “HIV/AIDS prevention in the LGBT community” with participation by Viorel Calistru who is the main specialist from the AIDS Center Ecaterina Rotaru and who is also the Director of the Dermatovenereal Dispanser.

Pride should have been opened with the ceremony of laying of flowers at the Monument of Stefan cel Mare. But at 11 a.m. when the laying ceremony was to have taken place, the monument had been surrounded by the police in order not to allow the Pride participants to pay tribute to history and the traditions of the country. Such measures undertaken by the police are not acceptable in a democratic society; it is an open manifestation of intolerance and discrimination towards the LGBT community.

The official Pride Opening Ceremony took place in the nightclub “SOHO”. Some of the famous Moldovan pop stars who took part in the gala concert were: Nelly Coibanu, Natalia Barbu, pop groups “Fresh” and “Regal”. In the interview after the concert Nelly Coibanu said: “All the people living on the Earth are equal. Nobody has the right to judge the others. It is God’s prerogative”. Natalia Barbu also supported gays and lesbians in the struggle for their rights: “They are the same people as others. I know some gay people. And all of them are highly educated, intellectual and very interesting people. Every time I communicate with them I get a lot of pleasure.”

The contest of transvestites “Miss Flawless – 2003” turned out to be a very interesting event for the public. Seven participants took part in the contest. The head of the jury was well-known Moldovan businessman Michael Titov, one of the founders of the Republic of Moldova contest “Miss Moldova”

In the Pride program was also included a rainbow mass lead by Florin Buhuceanu, a priest from Romania. During the mass he mentioned those who had been victims of homophobia. The program of the third day included an international conference whose participants included representatives and guests from 9 countries (Romania, Ukraine, Belarus, Holland, Austria, Bulgaria, Sweden, Russia, USA).

Currently Gay Pride in Moldova is the only event of this kind in post-Soviet countries. First Prides were organized in the USA in big cities at the beginning of 1970s and had gathered tens of thousands of people. Nowadays Prides or Love Parades take place in hundreds of cities all over the world and get together millions of people: gays, lesbians and all other interested people. And most of these events include a colorful carnival.

For additional information you can contact Maxim, phone numbers 220201, 270850. Or email at: maximanm@hotmail.com

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Greetings everyone, this is Kim Duva, Peace Corps Volunteer working with Genderdoc-M, here to give a review on this years Second Annual Chisinau Pride. I’ll start from Club Soho as due to some other work obligations, I was not able to attend the laying of the wreath, and the reception at Bar Shola, which saddened me a bit as I am a bit of a photography buff, and would have enjoyed the exhibit there.

We arrived at Club Soho at 4pm ready to enter and view the show. Unfortunately we were sent back to my apartment to get our passports because of the three types of police there, and their strict control of people visiting from outside of Moldova. I’ve never encountered this before at any event in the two years I have been living here, but, I suppose it’s always better to be safe than sorry!

The show began with a nice speech from Genderdoc-M President Mr. Marchicov. This was followed by an interesting dance ensemble. It was a troup of 7-10 people clothed in black robes like monks, with hoods, carrying flashlights. It was a bit gothic in nature but enjoyable nonetheless. This was followed by a wonderful modern dance from one of the Genderdoc-M performers, Sasha, and his two great side kicks. After this, a team of 10 breakdancers, from as little as age 10 to 16 were going back to back doing some of the best breakdancing I’ve seen since my highschool years when this was all the fad. Confetti drops and fireworks were happening throughout. Then, the Moldovan pop stars began their singing. Nelly Ciobanu came out on the stage, bursting out tunes. It was nice to see live music. This was followed by another popstar, then I believe, the group “Fresh”. Good performances all about. After this it was clear the crowd was ready to dance, and a large group began to fill the dance floor. We boogie woogied until 8pm when the club closed and we were on our way to the next stop: Palmira Restaurant in Botanica, located by the “Gates of the City”. Here we sat outside on the Veranda and enjoyed a nice meal and some good conversation with some other Peace Corps Pride attendees. We moved into the restaurant where it was jam packed with about 200 people, eating, dancing, cocktailing and struttin’ their stuff. The energy was good and the party continued until late.

On Saturday, there was a day of performance at the Doina hotel in Riscani. Lots of circus acts, artists, the breakdancers and other tricks. This was followed by an interesting Theatre Forum where the participants acted out emotions and societal situations, then asked the audience to participate. I didn’t get much of this because it was in Russian, although a friend translated some into Romanian for us. It sounded very interesting and this was not the only time I had wished I had understood the Russian Language. Then, the ceremonial laying of the flowers at the lake occurred, which commemoriated those lost due to the homophobia in this country. Apparently this had made it to the evening news. After this, my friends and I headed home for a short rest before joining everyone at the Military Pub, one of Riscani’s new bars, and not unlike something you would find in the East Village of Manhattan. The interior is skillfully decorated in authentic military decor. Depressing you may think, but it’s actually quite interesting. Our table upstairs had two long army cots as our seats, and a helmet lamp. In the background was a tank with female manequins sticking out. Thankfully no one shouted “lights out” at 10pm, and thus we stayed on until the wee hours, making friends with some Pride attendees from Cluj-Napoca, and also our own Chisinau.

On Sunday, we began the day at 11 sharp at the UNDP Great Hall, where a press conference was held. Speakers from Sweden, the Netherlands, Belarus, Ukraine, USA, Romania and Moldova all had speeches. It was interesting to hear about Sweden’s very progressive gay marriage law, which allows for gay marriage of one Swedish citizen to a non-citizen, as long as the relationship is indeed bonafide. I gave a speech about the Gay Movement in New York and Molly from the USA, gave an interesting one on her experiences. The conference ended at 5pm and I was exhausted! I headed home for a rest before heading to Haos for Safe Sex Party/Drag Queen Competition all under the heading of Pride Celebration. The party was full of energy and everyone had a great time until about 3am in the morning. Towards the end, Fireworks went off, and the pride torch was passed, signaling the passing of Gay Pride from one generation to another.

I was asked that evening what the Gay Pride is like in New York. I explained about the Dykes on Bikes, the truck trailers filled with dancing people, and other celebratory movements that parade down 5th Avenue all day long. With the spirit and energy of the Chisinau Pride, it is not unlikely that one day the same will be happening down the Stefan Cel Mare Blvd. Moldova has a long way to go, but the relentless hard work, positive energy and professionalism of the Genderdoc-M Organization will indeed make this a reality. And with this, tolerance for diversity.

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GenderDoc-M may move to a better office if…

There is a great deal of excitement about the possibility of moving GenderDoc-M into larger premises. Currently we are bursting at the seams with staff, volunteers, resource center and counseling of clients. A building that would fill our needs is available to us, and we have received the majority of funding from two international agencies. However, we are short of the final asking price by $4,500. This appeal is to you, our friends, to help us overcome this final hurdle and allow us to meet the very demanding needs of the suppressed and largely ignored LGBT population of Moldova. If you can donate even a small amount of money, we would be so very grateful. Just click onto this link and you will be shown how easily you can transfer money from your bank into our account here in Moldova.

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Information Center GenderDoc-M
C.P. 422, MD 2004 Chisinau, Republic of Moldova
Phone: (373-2) 22-02-01, 27-60-94
Email: genderdoc_m@mdl.net

The Information Center “GenderDoc-M” is a non-governmental, public institution, registered by the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Moldova in May 8, 1998. Although registered as an NGO on general gender issues, to avoid eventual conflicts with the authorities, it remains the only institution to protect gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender rights in Moldova.

The main goals of the Center are:

collection, processing and distribution of information on different aspects of homosexuality;
protection of gay and lesbian rights;
creation of safe environment for LGBT community

Our main projects/activities include:

“Mirror” – cultural and educational gay and lesbian magazine, distributed through the national newspaper distribution systems. First issue appeared in 1998, published regularly since 2001 with circulation of 500 copies every two months. The overall circulation over 6500 copies. Permanent rubrics include psychological assistance, HIV/AIDS, international news, literature, art galleries, discrimination stories and much more. Currently implemented.
“Social and Psychological Aspects of Homosexuality”, “Homosexuality and Human Rights” – two international seminars held in Chisinau in December 1999 and February 2000 with participation of experts and members of similar organisations from Romania, Russia, Ukraine.
“Essential Aspects of Homosexuality” – five workshops for journalism/psychology students, NGO leaders, high school teachers and LGBT community. Answers the very basic questions people usually have about homosexuality.
Psychological Assistance for LGBT community of the Republic of Moldova (in cooperation with ACCEPT, Romania and “Youth for the right to live”, Moldova). The service provides psychological counselling and support via e-mail, phone, snail mail, the magazine.
“Safe House” promotion of safer sex for men having sex with men by distribution of lubricants and condoms, informational materials. In cooperation with RFSL (Sweden) and COC (Netherlands).
Local and European lobby. GenderDoc-M is constantly lobbying different European institutions like the Council of Europe, European Parliament, OSCE, raising their awareness on discrimination and abuse of gay and lesbian rights in Moldova. It shows concrete results. Not once have European politicians publicly expressed their concern, made declarations and touched upon the subject with Moldovan authorities. The two most known cases GenderDoc-M has brought to the attention of European community were the suspension of gay and lesbian meeting by the police on September 23rd 2000 and hate speech, made by Moldovan parliamentarian and PACE member Vlad Cubreacov.
“Moldovan Gay and Lesbian Empowerment” – twinning project between COC Netherlands and GenderDoc-M, was launched in October 2001. This project foresees the improvement of the legal, social and political situation of the LGBT community in Moldova by means of emancipation of the movement through the Information Centre GenderDoc-M. The project consists of four programs: awareness raising campaign, organisational development, safe environment and juridical assistance. Within the project many seminars and debates will be held, the magazine “Mirror” and three books will be published, assistance and social services will be provided to the gay and lesbian community. A special attention will be paid to organizational development of the Center. The project is funded by the Royal Dutch Embassy in Kiev and is given political support by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
In the end of April 2002 GenderDoc-M with support of RFSL (Sweden) has organized the First Moldovan Gay and Lesbian Pride 2002. The event was organized for the gay and lesbian community and its supporters, gay friendly persons. It included art exhibition, movie festival, presentation of gay anthology, international conference (with participation of openly gay priest Ulf Lidman, openly gay parliamentarian Tasso Stafilidis and Stig Ake Petersson (all from Sweden), Dennis van der Veur (the Netherlands) as well as guests from Romania and Ukraine).

The pride was also widely mentioned in the press.

Project “GAD” on HIV/AIDS prevention in vulnerable groups. The project has been implemented by Information Center “GenderDoc-M” in autumn 2002 in collaboration and with financial support of Peace Corps USA in Moldova. The project included the following activities:

Publication of three leaflets: “Safer Sex for Gays”, “Safer Sex for Women”, “Negotiating Safer Sex”
3 seminar on HIV/AIDS and safer sex practices for students in Balti and lesbian and bisexual women – members of GenderDoc-MProject “Safer Sex for Safer Life”. The project is aimed to inform the members of Moldovan LGBT community about the danger, which poses HIV/AIDS, and promotion of safer sexual behavior. The project is being implemented by Information Center “GenderDoc-M” in collaboration and with financial support of Peace Corps USA in Moldova. The project foresees the following activities:
3 seminars for the LGBT community on HIV/AIDS and how to be protected
Parties on Safer Sex Promotion (includes contests, questionnaires, free distribution of condoms, lubricants, informational materials, etc.)
Publication of leaflet with information about condoms and lubricants
Training for Moldovan specialists working on HIV/AIDS prevention: “Work on HIV/AIDS prevention in the LGBT community.

Also see:
Gay Moldova Stories
Gay Croatia New & Reports 2005 to present
Gay Croatia Photo Galleries