Western Romania: Oradea bans Pride March, organizers say it will go ahead anyway

Local authorities in Oradea, a major city in western Romania, have decided “not to approve” the Pride March scheduled to take place on Saturday, July 25, according to local news outlet eBihoreanul. The organizers responded in a statement, announcing that the march will take place as scheduled.

Oradea City Hall's decision follows similar refusals in recent years.

"A decision not to approve the event has been issued. All 115 routes proposed by the Ark Oradea Association are concentrated in the central area of the municipality, parks, Union Square, and Ferdinand Square. These routes are unavailable because they overlap with other approved events or are affected by major public infrastructure works," Oradea City Hall spokesperson Octavian Haragoș told eBihoreanul.

The associations advocating for LGBTQIA+ rights condemned the decision to ban the march.

“Mayor Florin Birta justifies the ban by claiming that the march would violate ‘social norms of conduct and public morality.’ ARK ORADEA and ACCEPT consider this reasoning to confirm the discriminatory nature of the decision and to constitute yet another attack on the right to peaceful assembly,” they said in a public letter.

"Despite the response received, the Oradea Pride March will take place on July 25 at 4 PM, with participants gathering in front of Oradea City Hall. As a sign of solidarity and concern regarding the situation in Oradea, representatives of nine diplomatic missions accredited in Romania, as well as representatives of the Ombudsman's Institution, will be present in Oradea to monitor the events," the two organizations also said.

The banning of the local Pride march in Oradea has been criticized even by representatives of the Council of Europe in recent weeks. The Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe, the political assembly representing local and regional authorities from the 46 member states, also called on the local authorities in Oradea to allow the Pride March to take place safely. The European Greens and Romania's SENS party also joined the calls.

In 2025, Oradea City Hall rejected all 11 proposed routes for the March, arguing that seven of them crossed areas affected by public works, while the other four overlapped with locations where other events had already been approved.

This year, ARK Oradea Association announced as early as June 25 that it had submitted the notification for the Pride March at "the first legally possible moment," proposing more than 100 routes. The organizers explained that they wanted to eliminate from the outset the administrative arguments invoked by City Hall in previous years. The proposed routes include both central areas and smaller streets near the city center, avoiding sections where construction works block pedestrian traffic.

In recent days, more than 120 civil society organizations from 30 countries also signed a public appeal calling on the local authorities in Oradea to respect freedom of assembly and ensure the safe organization of the Pride March. International organizations including ILGA Europe, EPOA (European Pride Organisers Association), IGLYO, OII Europe – Organisation Intersex International Europe, the Council for Global Equality, TGEU and Forbidden Colours joined the appeal addressed to officials in Oradea, alongside numerous Pride march organizers from around the world and dozens of non-governmental organizations and civic groups from Romania expressing their solidarity with ARK Oradea and the entire LGBTQIA+ community.

radu@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Council of European Commissioner for Human Rights on Facebook) ...