Gay online TV channel to launch in Romania

By Jamie Skey • August 27, 2008 - 11:40

Romanian gays are to get their own online TV channel

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Romanian gays are to get their own online TV channel dedicated to the 'life and problems of the gay community' this autumn.

The channel, which will be launched on October 1 and dubbed Angelicuss TV, will be the first of its kind in a predominantly Orthodox country.

Launched in the north-western town of Cluj by the anti-discrimination group Be An Angel, the channel will only be broadcast on the Internet.

It will cover a varied mix of "gay music, news, entertainment and films," the channel announced on its website.

Lucian Dunareanu, a president of the organization, says the new channel will have education, not commercial objectives.

"(It) will be a means of communication in the gay community as well as with the Romanian public as a whole," said Dunareanu.

The investment made by this Romanian association has been minimal; the operation will consist of servers only.

Most of the technical equipment is to be provided for free by a gay channel in Germany.

Dunareanu says he is hopeful that the shows can be watched online by 100 visitors by next year.

The channel will not show any pornographic or indecent material.

Romania joined the EU at the beginning of 2007, at which time it was required to recognise same-sex couples registered in other member states.

The country includes sexual orientation in its anti-discrimination legislation and allows those who have undergone gender reassignment to change their identity.

It was one of the last European countries to decriminalise homosexuality in 1996, and a further law banning "manifestations of homosexuality" was finally repealed in 2001.

In 2002 the age of consent was equalised at 15.

In December 2006 an EU funded poll found that just 11% of Romanians approved of same-sex marriage.

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