The phenomenon of hate crime offenses based on sexual-orientation bias became possible in Moldova owing to the lack of information. This is one of the conclusions reached by the participants in a public lecture organized by Promo-LEX Association and Equal Rights Trust on Tuesday evening, Info-Prim Neo reports. The absence of information about sexual orientation generates sexual origination-based hate crimes, when the homosexuals are beaten, harassed, offended, etc. For the same reason, the level of tolerance of persons with non-traditional sexual orientation is very low. A study shows that this level in Moldova is 2%, which is rather low compared with other countries. “42% of the respondents of a poll believe the homosexuals should be banned from using public means of transport, 51% said the homosexuals should be deprived of certain rights, while some of those questioned said these persons do not have the right to live. The lack of information leads to intolerance and, respectively, to hate crimes,” Angela Frolov, a representative of the NGO Gender Doc M, said in the public lecture. According to Angela Frolov, in Chisinau there are places where the homosexuals come together and police officers go there and force them to give them money for keeping silent. “The Penal Code does not include all the discrimination criteria described in Article 1 of the antidiscrimination bill. If the bill was passed, it would supplement the Penal Code, which contains only stipulations about hate crimes based on nationality, religion and race,” said lawyer Doina Ioana Straisteanu. Angela Frolov also said that there are an estimated 90,000 homosexuals in Moldova. A study reveals that each third person of ten in the world is homosexual. The half-year publication Equal Rights Trust that was presented in the public lecture contains the Equality Law of the UK adopted in 2010. The law does not differ much from the Moldovan antidiscrimination bill.