Romanian 'Family' Referendum Targets Same-Sex Marriage

Romanians are set to vote in a referendum next month on whether they want to change their constitution so that it bans same-sex marriage by defining a family as a "consensual union between a man and a woman".

The country's Senate passed a bill on Tuesday afternoon, three years after the Coalition for the Family, an umbrella organisation made up of religious and church-backed NGOs, managed to collect the three million signatures required to submit the proposed legislation on the referendum to parliament. Only 13 senators voted against it.

The lower chamber of parliament passed the bill in May 2017. It also needs to be promulgated by the president and the government is required to organise a plebiscite within a month of its publication in the country's Official Journal.

Redefining the definition of family in the constitution that currently describes marriage as "a union between spouses" has been one of the main topics debated by Romanian civil society and politicians in recent years.

The main political parties, both the ruling Social Democrats and the Liberals, have announced on several occasions that they will support the bill in parliament.

Social Democrat leader Liviu Dragnea announced at the beginning of September after a meeting of the party leadership that they were considering October 7 as the date of the referendum.

"We voted in the Executive Committee and we decided to support this objective," Dragnea told media on September 1.

Liberal leader Ludovic Orban said on September 2 that despite the fact that his party supports the referendum, he would allow his fellow party members to vote as "their conscience tells them to".

The only political faction that has positioned itself against the referendum was the Save...