Romanian gay
pride marchers attacked over weekend

Ten people were injured and dozens arrested when militant protesters trying to break up a gay rights march clashed with riot police in the Romanian capital on Saturday. Hundreds of gay rights activists marched through downtown Bucharest to protest discrimination in the largely conservative country and to call for the legalization of same-sex marriage. But the parade was disrupted by more than a thousand right-wing counterprotesters who threw eggs, stones, and plastic bottles at the activists, who were shielded by police in trucks. Some of the mob, including Orthodox nuns and a priest, carried crosses and chanted, "Romania does not need you." Many protesters clashed with police, who fired tear gas and used clubs to hold them at bay. They detained 51 people. Homosexuality is legal in Romania, which hopes to join the European Union in 2007, but the public largely accepts the powerful Orthodox Church's view that it is a sin and a disease. (Sirius OutQ News)