Being Gay Is Beautiful in Bucharest

Photos by Paul Dunca, Diana Bobina, Andronis, Maria Drăghici, Ana Maria Preduț, and Virginia Lupu

Based on the news cycle, you’d think LGBT people all lived in a sparkly version of hell. It’s true that in many ways, being queer can suck, but besides dealing with a whole lot of crap, LGBT people are living beautiful, diverse lives in a variety of cities across the world. Our new photo column “Being Gay Is Beautiful in…” explores this idea, showcasing photos of a different city’s LGBT community every week to display how being queer is fucking awesome.

This week, we go to Bucharest, Romania. Although Romania remains a deeply homophobic country, its LGBT community has continued to host pride parades, an LGBT History Month, and QUEER NIGHT, an annual alternative party created exclusively for LGBT people. For this week’s column, VICE Romania collected photos of LGBT Romanians celebrating at QUEER NIGHT and partying at underground events.