On May 23, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) said that Romania has failed to enforce the rights of same-sex couples by refusing to recognize their relationships. As a result, Romania’s government is in breach of article eight of the European Convention on Human Rights – the right to respect for private and family life. The judgment was issued after 21 couples, all Romanian nationals born between 1967 and 1996, lodged complaints with the ECHR between 2019 and 2020. In their applications, the couples complained that there was no way they could legally safeguard their relationships in Romania due to the lack of recognition. Each of the couples had given notice to their local registry offices expressing their intention to marry, but their requests were rejected under an article that defines marriage as being between a man and a woman. A majority of seven judges ultimately ruled that Romania is in breach of article eight of the European Convention on Human Rights. The court found that the couples at the center of the case had been unable to access many of the social and civil rights granted to heterosexual couples due to the lack of legal recognition. #Queer Up The World View