The Romanian Senate. Photo: Octav Ganea/Inquam Photos.

Romanians are set to vote in a referendum next month on whether they want to change their constitution so that it bans same-sex marriage by defining a family as a “consensual union between a man and a woman”.

The country’s Senate passed a bill on Tuesday afternoon, three years after the Coalition for the Family, an umbrella organisation made up of religious and church-backed NGOs, managed to collect the three million signatures required to submit the proposed legislation on the referendum to parliament. Only 13 senators voted against it.

The lower chamber of parliament passed the bill in May 2017. It also needs to be promulgated by the president and the government is required to organise a plebiscite within a month of its publication in the country’s Official Journal.

Redefining the definition of family in the constitution that currently describes marriage as “a union between spouses” has been one of the main topics debated by Romanian civil society and politicians in recent years.

The main political parties, both the ruling Social Democrats and the Liberals, have announced on several occasions that they will support the bill in parliament.

Social Democrat leader Liviu Dragnea announced at the beginning of September after a meeting of the party leadership that they were considering October 7 as the date of the referendum.

“We voted in the Executive Committee and we decided to support this objective,” Dragnea told media on September 1.

Liberal leader Ludovic Orban said on September 2 that despite the fact that his party supports the referendum, he would allow his fellow party members to vote as “their conscience tells them to”.

The only political faction that has positioned itself against the referendum was the Save Romania Union, whose MPs voted against the bill in both the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies.

The Coalition for the Family has already started campaigning for the referendum, publishing a series of videos featuring teens and young people speaking in support of the “traditional family”.

In June, The European Court of Justice ruled that same-sex married couples have the same rights under EU freedom of residence legislation as heterosexual married couples, even if same-sex marriage is not allowed in the country.

The case was submitted by a Romanian, Adrian Coman, and his American spouse, Robert Hamilton, who married in Belgium in 2010.

The Romanian authorities refused to issue the necessary documents to enable Hamilton to work and reside permanently in Romania with his spouse because he could not be classified in Romania as the spouse of an EU citizen.

Supporters of the LGBT community gathered on Tuesday night in central Bucharest to protest against the decision of the Romanian Senate.

The MozaiQ LGBT rights organisation sent an open letter to Romanian Senators on Monday asking them not to pass the bill.

“Referendums are often shortcuts for difficult social questions and can lead to further eroding democracy,” the letter said.

Read more:

EU Court Gives Same-Sex Spouses Equal Residency Rights

Romania’s LGBT Community Rallies Against Intolerance

Gay Marriage Discord Splits Romanian Party