Romania moves to constitutional referendum on marriage

The Romanian Senate on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved a measure to allow a national referendum that could change the nation’s constitution to explicitly say that marriage is the union of one man and one woman. The constitution currently states that marriage is a union between “spouses.” The 107-13 vote came after Parliament’s lower house, the Chamber of Deputies, approved the same measure last year.

In 2016, 3 million Romanians, more than 15 percent of the country’s population, signed a petition in support of a Biblical definition of marriage and requesting a constitutional referendum. In March, 40 members of the European Parliament wrote a letter calling on the Romanian president to support a referendum. The Senate vote was on religious grounds, said Social Democrat Sen. Serban Nicolae: “We’ve been a Christian nation for 2,000 years.” Romania will hold the referendum in October, according to Social Democrat Chairman Liviu Dragnea.