Intolerance of church in Moldova for anti-discrimination stipulated in Agreement with EU, OP-ED,repeat of May 14,2018

The anti-discrimination legislation was adopted six years ago, but this seems to have no effect on the hate speech of representatives of the Orthodox Church in Moldova against the sexual minorities. Traditionally, the discriminatory messages of the church intensify during the public demonstrations that promote tolerance, in particular of sexual minorities. Thus, the announcement about the Solidarity March “Without Fear” that was scheduled to take place on May 19 as part of the 17th Festival of the LGBT Community in Moldova generated again hostility on the part of the Church. The leader of the Moldovan Metropolitan Church Vladimir harshly condemned the demonstrations organized by the sexual minorities and asked that the municipal authorities of Chisinau should take measures to hamper the staging of the march (Moldovan Metropolitan Church, May 9, 2018).

Concomitantly, the Metropolitan Church concentrated its efforts and staged a “silence march” on May 12, 2018, by which it stated its support for the traditional family (Moldovan Metropolitan Church, May 12, 2018). The Church placed again the traditional family in an opposition to the sexual minorities. In this regard, the Church reiterated that homosexuality is equal to sin. The use of religious dogmas perpetuates societal prejudice and also validates a hostile perception of the participants in the “solidarity march” that will take place at a distance of a week. Mounted since 2014, the pro-family march is the most robust form of manifestation of the Church in the lay civic area and also outside the conventional religious events.

As the previous years, the parties from inside and outside Parliament avoid to condemn the discriminatory speech and hate speech used by the Church. The electoral calculations – municipal elections of May 20 and the parliamentary elections of the end of 2018 - induce a high level of tolerance of the church attacks on the non-discriminatory implementation of human rights in the parties that are associated with the EU. Particular reservations are also seen in the case of civil society even if this usually launches solidarity messages to prevent or react to abuses against human rights.

The social category most discriminated against

The sexual minorities face the most severe discriminatory attitude on the part of the Moldovan citizens, both inside the family and in society. The uninterrupted stigmatization of this group by the Church and the political players with conservative views leads to the keeping of the current level of public intolerance.

The anti-discrimination legislation adopted in 2012 partially transposes the European directives concerning the principle of equality in the treatment of persons, including in the employment process. But the given legislation rather favors the signaling of discriminatory cases than the effective fighting of this phenomenon. To increase the impact of the legislation, the powers of the Council for the Prevention and Elimination of Discrimination and Ensuring of Equality should be extended and the discrimination should be eliminated and equality should be ensured. Functional since 2013, this institution for now cannot offer assistance to the victims of discrimination, in particular by representing them in court. Also, the Council’s decisions are not mandatory in character and do not imply the imposition of penalties. Therefore, they are easily ignored. The limited powers and the deficient institutional capacities seriously diminish the potential of the Council, which, in improved conditions, could encourage other players too (political parties, etc.) to fight the discriminatory messages against the LGBT community and other vulnerable groups. (See Table 1)
 

Table 1. Most discriminated social categories and social acceptance degrees

Source: Study of perceptions and attitudes concerning equality in Moldova, 2015

Actions of church and political substratum

The promotion of the traditional values and conservation of a discriminatory message against the sexual minorities depend on the active involvement of the Church, but cannot obtain maximum visibility without the participation of the political class. President Igor Dodon is for now the only politician who fully makes use of the messages about the role of the traditional family and the so-called “danger” of homosexuality that are disseminated by the Church. Even if the Constitution provides that the Head of State should represent all the citizens, Igor Dodon promotes a speech that is hostile of the most discriminated social category. By taking part in the pro-family religious march of May 12, together with his family, President Dodon clearly showed that he wants to monopolize the general affiliation with the Church, specifically with the Moldovan Metropolitan Church that is subordinated to Moscow, which constantly enjoys the highest level of public confidence. (See Table 2)

Table. 2 Top 4 institutions that are most trusted by the public in Moldova

Source: IRI.org

On the one hand, despite the Constitutional Court’s request of 2016 to limit the involvement of the Church in the electoral process and to ensure religious neutrality, some of the political players, such as Igor Dodon, deliberately use the rapprochement with the Church to gain political popularity in an electoral year. On the other hand, the Moldovan Metropolitan Church acts against the constitutional provisions saying that the state is lay and exerts pressure on the pubic authorities by urging them to thwart the “solidarity march”.

The Metropolitan Church’s approach with which President Dodon accepts to associate himself shows an attempt to radicalize the church.

Initially, the Church requests the municipal authorities “to prevent nontraditional behaviors by any means”. The message of the Moldovan Metropolitan Church could be interpreted as instigation of “abuses against the participants in the “solidarity march” by violating the current legislation and the constitutional provisions. Also, the Church incites hatred against sexual minorities, comparing the public manifestation of the right to non-discrimination with the “ignoring of the moral feelings of the vast majority of our Orthodox citizens” (Moldovan Metropolitan Church, May 9, 2018).

In the course of 2018, the pro-Russian Moldovan politicians in particular will make use of the traditional values in an attempt to mobilize the voters against the “internal enemies” represented by the sexual minorities. The World Congress of Families, which President Dodon intends to stage this autumn, will be the culminant point of these actions (Presedinte.md, January 22, 2018). Even if the ruling Democrats celebrated Europe Day (PDM, May 9, 2018), while the extra-parliamentary opposition led by Maia Sandu makes reference to the European values (PAS, May 1, 2018), these parties avoid to assume the electoral costs as a result of the association with the sexual minorities.

Besides the fear of the political players, there is also the reticence of a large part of civil society. The latter plays an important role in the implementation of the Association Agreement with the EU, which clearly pleads for the protection of human rights and fighting of any form of discrimination.

Instead of conclusions…

The lack of solidarity towards the sexual minorities and the promoters of non-discrimination, even if it prevents the appearance of additional tensions, strengthens the position of the Church and its intervention in other areas where the state takes action (education, health, etc.).

The negative attitude to the sexual minorities shows that the change of collective mentality is a slow and difficult process. It can be accelerated if the anti-discrimination public institutions are given additional resources and powers, while the lay and civic player abandon the electoral calculations or the selective approaches as regards the human rights.

The European agenda cannot be advanced in Moldova if particular socially vulnerable categories of people are abandoned. The increase in tolerance in society predisposes to reforms and to the fulfillment of the commitments made to the EU, on which the sustainability of the visa-free regime also depends.