Eurovision: Romania's Cezar

OMG, paging Klaus Nomi! Romania's Cezar is an opera singer who starts deep and then launches into the disco stratosphere. He's won several "Best Countertenor" contests at European opera competitions. I've been waiting for something this deliriously fun. THIS is Eurovision. Cezar says he's not gay, but does have "many gay friends." Uh-huh.

Horse Meat, Donkey Meat

Some of the horse meat that's been labeled as beef in European supermarkets may not even be horse meat.

A law banning horses from Romanian roads may be responsible for the surge in the fraudulent sale of horse meat on the European beef market, a French politician said today.  Horse-drawn carts were a common form of transport for centuries in Romania, but hundreds of thousands of the animals are feared to have been sent to the abattoir after the change in road rules. The law, which was passed six years ago but only enforced recently, also banned carts drawn by donkeys, leading to speculation among food-industry officials in France that some of the “horse meat” which has turned up on supermarket shelves in Britain, France and Sweden may, in fact, turn out to be donkey meat.

There's a joke here about eating ass, but I'm not gonna make it.

Romania Mocks Britain On Immigration

Romania and Bulgaria both become full European Union members (regarding the right to work) next year and the UK government is reportedly mulling plans to discourage a mass migration to Britain. In response to those reports, a Romanian ad campaign has launched in which Britain's cuisine and climate are mocked.

UPDATE: A reader clarifies that Romania and Bulgaria joined the EU in 2007 but that it's not until next year when full membership kicks in and citizens of both nations may work in Britain and eight other countries.

Belgium and eight other EU member states -- Germany, Ireland, France, Luxembourg, Holland, Austria, the UK and Malta -- agreed in December 2011 with the European Commission (EC) to prolong work restrictions for Romania and Bulgaria until January 2014.  Italy and the Czech Republic lifted all restrictions, while Spain initially kept its market open for the two countries' workers, but decided last summer to restrict their access.  "The Commission has clearly asked the countries that want to keep the restrictions to also present the grounds, include in their notifications concrete data and pertinent arguments," Michael Jennings, the EC spokesperson said. The nine countries cited high unemployment rate to justify continued restrictions for Romanians and Bulgarians. By 2014, all EU member states must lift restrictions for the citizens of the two countries that joined the EU in 2007. A total of 16 EU member states have liberalised their work market for Romanians and Bulgarians to date.

A petition has been launched demanding that the British government extend the work restriction by another five years.

Eurovision: Romania's Hotel FM

Bright, poppy, cute.

No Witch Tax For Romania

Romania's Senate has rejected a proposed bill that would have taxed the nation's witches and fortune tellers and fined them for bad predictions. According to the bill's sponsor, his fellow legislators voted against the bill because they feared being cursed.

Senator Alin Popoviciu of Romania's ruling Democratic Liberal Party drafted the legislation that also would have forced the country's thousands of witches and fortune tellers to produce receipts and would have held them responsible for wrong predictions. When Romania's Senate rejected the plan last week, Popoviciu accused the naysayers of being superstitious fools who were afraid that angry fortune tellers would call down curses on them, Britain's Sky News reported. But there may be a more mundane reason the bill didn't pass. Maria Campina, a well-known Romanian witch, told Realitatea TV that it would be difficult to tax fortune tellers and witches: She said they made erratic sums of money, and receipts would be difficult to keep.

She turned me into a newt! (I got better.)

Eurovision 2010: Romania's Seling & Ovi

Rubber-suited Fergie-a-like hits Mariah-high notes with generic male co-vocalist. Not terrible, but instantly forgettable. Points off for the oh-so-tired fire/desire rhyme, which should have been retired even before Rick James and Teena Marie made it their showstopper.

Romania Bans Same-Sex Marriage

The Alliance Defense Fund, a U.S.-based anti-gay group, claims to have guided Romania's parliament to a ban on same-sex marriage and civil unions.

Roger Kiska, a member of Alliance Defense Fund's legal counsel, is stationed in Europe. He tells OneNewsNow that Romania adopted a strong civil code enshrining traditional marriage in law. "It's defined throughout the code -- spouse as between a man and a woman," he explains. "It forbids these backdoor, so-called same-sex 'marriages' where Romanian citizens or foreigners come into the country and ask that their marriage be recognized by the country. It also does the same with civil unions." Alliance Defense Fund played a prominent role in assisting supporters in the Romanian parliament. "Through Peter Costea, who is one of our allied attorneys and the head of Alliance for Romanian Families, who's been doing excellent work in Romania, got these provisions enacted in the law," Kiska points out, "and we're just happy to see in Europe these types of protections being afforded to marriage."

In May skinheads demonstrated in Bucharest in a "normality march" to protest gay Pride. The new law goes into effect on January 1, 2010.

Bucharest Sees "Normality" March

Skinheads and other charming Romanians marched in opposition to Bucharest's gay pride parade yesterday, declaring their event a "Normality March."

"Romanians, wake up! Sexual perversions are contagious mental diseases" or "Romanians, stop the homosexual epidemic! It is more dangerous than the flue" are just some of the messages written on the placards. The participants also chorus "Romania is not Sodom." We have nothing against homosexuals, but it bothers us so see that they make public their options and attitudes that should remain private, one of the participants at the march told NewsIn. The organizers of the normality march said they will not try to sabotage the march of sexual minorities that will take place this afternoon at 5 p.m, and added they are just trying to express their points of view through this action, said Alexandru Nastase, the leader of Noua Dreapta Bucharest. This is the fourth year in a row when such a march is organized. According to a poll carried out by Gallup Organization Romania in June-July last year, homosexuality is seen as a bad thing by 68 percent of the Romanians. About 36 percent of them deem homosexual relations should be sanctioned, through prohibiting some rights. The same poll indicates that 56 percent of the Romanians say homosexuals should not be allowed to organize public events and 36 percent of them wish they would stop showing on television.

Although Romanian society is largely anti-gay, the country has made great strides in LGBT rights in recent years and in 2006 was lauded by the Human Rights Watch for making "exemplary progress in combating rights abuses based on sexual orientation or gender identity." Gays can serve openly in the military (although few do), but same-sex relationships are not recognized by the state in any fashion.