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| - Romanian academics and students expressed outrage Wednesday over MPs' support for a ban on the teaching of gender studies in schools and universities, following a similar move in neighbouring Hungary. "We are astounded... that an academic theory could be banned by the law," read a statement from the Babes-Bolyai University, Romania's second largest. "Courses on gender identity and equal opportunities will be banned, in contravention of academic freedom," said centre-right senator and university professor Vlad Alexandrescu said in a Facebook post. "Romania is aligning itself to positions promoted by Hungary and Poland and becoming a regime introducing thought police," he added. An amendment to a law on education voted through by MPs on Tuesday bans "activities propagating theories and opinions on gender identity according to which gender is a separate concept from biological sex". The amendment was put forward by a lawmaker from a small, centre-right party but was carried largely thanks to votes from the left-wing Social Democrats (PSD), who have a majority in parliament despite not being in government. However, it must be approved by centre-right President Klaus Iohannis before it enters into force. Several students' associations and NGOs have launched a petition calling on Iohannis to reject the measure. The petition, which gathered more than 16,000 signatures in the space of a few hours, says the ban would "contravene Romania's obligations" towards international institutions such as the UN. The latest row comes after MPs prevented the introduction of sex education in Romanian schools, justifying the move by saying they wanted to "protect children's innocence". According to figures from Eurostat from 2019, Romania has the EU's highest teen pregnancy rate. In 2018, the government in neighbouring Hungary issued a decree prohibiting gender studies courses and last month barred citizens from legally changing their gender. LGBT rights activists said the "outrageous" change will expose transgender Hungarians to greater discrimination. mr/jsk/jj
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