Growing up I was told that Moldova is the most hospitable country in the world. The people in the Republic of Moldova are the best and they love everyone. Not until my expectations about this “picture-perfect” country changed. We still have a lot of homework to do in terms of acceptance as a society.
According to the general report regarding The Situation in The Field of Preventing and Combating Discrimination in the Republic of Moldova, published in 2021, the least accepted groups are LGBT+ people (IDS = 4.5), people with HIV (IDS = 3.5) and people who have been detained (IDS = 3.1). Average respondents would prefer to give LGBT+ people at most visitor status.
At the end of 2021, Magenta Consulting made a study on the problems faced by LGBT + teenagers in the Republic of Moldova, for Terre des hommes Moldova and the GENDERDOC-M Information Center.
According to the Report on the situation of the rights of LGBT+, numerous teenager respondents mentioned that they had never been assaulted or threatened by family members because of their sexual orientation/identity or gender. At the same time, some teenagers said they were submissive to threats or aggression in the family. Situations were exposed in which the parents sprinkle their LGBT+ children with holy water. Another situation was that of a LGBT+ teenager who had been required by parents to go to a psychiatrist and perform certain medical tests (“they thought homosexuality could be treated”). A respondent said her parents threatened to kill her and did not allow her to leave the house. The respondent called her brother who came with the police to release her. Another respondent heard about a situation in which her parents forced their LGBT + daughter to have sex with boys. A respondent declared a friend had decided to “withdraw” his revelation about orientation, in order to not be deprived of a place to live. Similarly, another respondent reported that a known LGBT+ person ran away from home because she was physically and psychologically abused by parents. The teenager turned to GENDERDOC-M specialists, who, in turn, addressed the police, followed by a court hearing. Now the teenager lives with her grandmother.
This year, on the 14th of April, THE Republic of Moldova lost yet another child to bullying
In the Report on the situation of the rights of LGBT+ Community in the Republic of Moldova, published by the Center of Information & Support GENDERDOC-M, the report shares some terrifying stories of what happened to some LGBT + community members. One of them is Felis’s story:
Felis was a 16-year-old trans girl who was harassed and bullied in school because of her gender identity. Her mother tried to solve the problem by addressing the parents of other classmates during parent gatherings at school. She asked the other children’s parents to tell them that it is not fair to make fun and condemn a person so cruelly because of their gender.
One of the parents replied:
“For nothing in the world I will agree! My son is a man! And it will crush such creatures! I’m teaching him that! ”
After Felis texted a classmate that he is handsome, and she would like to be friends with him, the colleague told his parents about this message and his father called Felis’s mother to threaten her:
“Listen! Calm down your bastard there! If your unfulfilled son comes again or looks in my son’s direction, you know that I will break his legs and you will not know who did it. You have to keep such a creature in a cage. You better leave this school”.
Felis was regularly humiliated by her classmates, and in February 2020 she was chased by several colleagues, all boys, knocked to the ground, trampled on. After beating her, they urinated on her. Felis arrived home in shock and as she entered the house she fainted. The next day Felis could not tell her mother which of her colleagues assaulted her. Her mother went to school with the dirty clothes and talked about what happened to the school principal. Soon, the high school representatives got to them and said no one knows who those colleagues are and they couldn’t do anything. The teacher said: Felis alone was to blame for what had happened to her. The girl’s mother went to the Ministry of Education, they sent a psychologist at school to clarify what happened. The school administration said that Felis had made up everything.
After three suicide attempts by Felis, her mother was forced to transfer her child to another school in the middle of the semester. One of the high schools in Chișinău, Republic of Moldova, took the girl in. Before accepting her, they called the previous high school to find out what happened and they stated they were glad they got rid of her because she was irritating. When Felis started coming to classes in her usual clothes, and wearing makeup, the bullying started again. The headmistress called Felis and her mother in the office and began to shout at them, wondering why Felis was dressed that way. Asking Felis’s mother and the girl whether she wants to get raped dressed in that outfit. And if she doesn’t change her behavior, she should take her documents from this high school and leave. The girl’s mother decided to ensure her well-being and to take her from that school.
During that time, the girl started to attend the Center of Information & Support GENDERDOC-M. The center coordinators stated that she even started to make friends. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to keep her around. On the 14th of April, 2022, Felis committed suicide.
The Report on the situation of the rights of LGBT+ Community in the Republic of Moldova, published by the Center of Information & Support GENDERDOC-M, covers another story, Mike’s story: Mike is a trans man living in Transnistria, an unrecognized breakaway state that is internationally recognized as part of Moldova. Mike lives in an apartment with his abusive parents and daughter. Mike’s parents use alcohol and apply domestic violence both on Mike and his daughter. Mike cannot leave his parents’ house, he can’t find a job because of the way he looks that doesn’t match his ID. Mike filed a complaint against his case to the Transnistrian police, but they did nothing. On the 12th of February, 2021, Mike addressed to the GENDERDOC-M Information Center. The GENDERDOC-M Information Center provided Mike assistance and got him in touch with a lawyer that handles cases of domestic violence.
Ana is another victim who dealt with emotional and physical abuse because of her sexual orientation: Ana, a young lesbian woman, told the experts from GENDERDOC-M Center that one of her co-worker tried to rape her in order to “correct her sexual orientation.” Ana lodged a complaint to the police and was consulted by a lawyer from the GENDERDOC-M Center.
What kind of actions does the government of the Republic of Moldova take to ensure the security of the LGBT+ Community?
On the 13th of May 2021, the representatives of the Socialist Party of the Republic of Moldova (PSRM) organized a press conference proposing several initiatives contrary to human rights. Vasile Bolea, Vladimir Odnostalco and Ala Darovanaia stated that the PSRM proposes to amend Article 48 (Family) of the Constitution of the Republic of Moldova, adding the following text: “The state prohibits marriage of the same gender partners. The next provision states that the parents of the child have to be a father (male parent) and a mother (female parent) ”.
The parliamentary elections from July 11, 2021 brought a new majority in Parliament of PAS members, a pro-European party with progressive visions. This reversal brought hope for respect of human rights in Moldova. The results were seen almost immediately – in October 2021, the new Parliament ratified the Istanbul Convention.
According to the Report on the situation of the rights of LGBT+ people in the Republic of Moldova, there are no legal charges taken for crimes and hate incidents against LGBT+ people. Most cases are perceived as hooliganism, robbery or causing harm regardless of the reason for hatred based on prejudice.
The situation of trans people in the Republic of Moldova remains complicated. According to the latest version of the International Classification of Diseases and other related health problems (ICD-11), published by WHO, “disorders of gender identity” were reclassified as “gender inconsistencies”. Gender non-compliance is now included in the chapter on sexual health instead of “mental disorder”, as in the previous classification. However, the Republic of Moldova has not yet taken any steps to change the system in accordance with this decision. Trans people are still bound to provide a certificate of “transsexuality” diagnosis in order to request a change of gender and name in identity documents. So far, the change of documents is possible only by the decision of the courts, a process that takes about 6-12 months.
Where to seek help?
The Information Centre GENDERDOC-M was established on 8 May 1998 and it is one of the oldest NGO actively promoting LGBT community rights in Moldova. Since then it has been protecting and advancing the rights of the LGBT people in Moldova. On the GENDERDOC-M website, everyone can press the report button to report if you or someone from the LGBT community has dealt with discrimination or infringement from someone.
GENDERDOC-M contacts: website: https://www.gdm.md/en, conatact number: (+373) 22/ 288861, 288863, E-mail: info@gdm.md.
Disclaimer: The names of the people provided in the article were changed in order to protect their privacy.
