Unfortunately, it was all quite far from what I had hoped for. Apparently, we are quite intolerant, with one of the most narrow-minded religious leaders. This part actually pisses me off. I have never seen them protest (or do something relevant) against poverty, women being abused, children being neglected and beaten or forced to beg and other such real issues the church should really get involved in.

Article and photo gallery from Hotnews:

A call by the Romanian Orthodox Church for people to pray in the street for the salvation of homosexuals’ souls could not prevent violence at the gay parade that took place on Saturday at the end of the GayFest 2007 festival in Bucharest last week.

The marchers were helding banners urging people to tolerate minorities. The event was organized by the ACCEPT association for the rights of sexual minorities.

But the quiet still colorful event almost came to a halt when several hundred youth tried to attack the march. The police intervened with tear gas grenades and was welcomed with bottles and rocks in two rounds of clashes that resulted in the arrests of dozens of people.

The march was preceded by another protest organized by the Romanian New Right movement seen as many as the continuator of Romanian fascism. It was also boycotted by anti-fascist protesters in a rare appearance that also resulted in several arrests on Saturday morning.