An equality law with the handbrake on
Moldova, 2012: an equality law that protected sexual orientation only at work.
On 28 May 2012, Moldovan President Nicolae Timofti signed the "Law on Ensuring Equality". The parliament in Chișinău had passed it three days earlier. For a country where same-sex acts had been legal since 1995 but there was hardly any protection against discrimination, it was a first step. But it remained only half a step.
The text had been fought over for years. The original draft would have protected people from discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation in all areas of life. Members of parliament and representatives of the Orthodox Church protested vehemently. In the end, the government cut the passage down. Discrimination was now expressly prohibited only in working life, and gender identity did not appear in any draft. There was also a clause stating that the ban must not affect marriage as a union between a man and a woman.
The decisive factor was less conviction than outside pressure. The EU had held out the prospect of visa-free travel for Moldova and had demanded an anti-discrimination law in its action plan. Radio Free Europe wrote that the law could only be pushed through because the protective provisions for LGBT people were played down and the benefit for visa-free travel was emphasised.
The reactions came promptly. The Moldovan Orthodox Church accused the law of paving the way for gay parades, and a communist leader announced a referendum to abolish it. The day after the signing, Amnesty International criticised the protection as far too narrow.
The law came into force on 1 January 2013. Only about a decade later was it supplemented with explicit protective provisions. The road there shows how much political will is needed to turn a paragraph into lived equality.