ORADEA, ROMANIA – Liberty Counsel continues to assist the citizens of Romania who are working on a nationwide constitutional referendum that would modify their Constitution to clarify that marriage is the foundational and fundamental societal institution and is naturally defined as the union of one man and one woman. Romania’s Constitutional Court recently approved and confirmed more than three million citizen signatures (in a country of less than 20 million people) calling for the national referendum. Liberty Counsel provided that Court with an amicus brief in defense of natural marriage, to counter numerous briefs filed by Soros-backed non-governmental organizations, which called on Romania to abandon its national sovereignty and cede the definition of the family to the European Union.

As the national debate in Romania continues, Liberty Counsel’s Vice President of Legal Affairs and Chief Litigation Counsel has just returned from a week-long trip to Romania. Horatio Mihet, a native Romanian, met with members of Romania’s Parliament, lawyers, judges, pastors, students and other community leaders. He shared a simple and timeless message: Marriage is worth defending. Mihet addressed some of the same deceptive tactics used by LGBT operatives in the United States, including the marginalization of Christian and conservative voices. He also countered one of the leading arguments against the amendment of the national constitution – that it is unnecessary since Romanian law already outlaws same-sex “marriage” – by pointing to what the Supreme Court was able to do in the United States in the absence of a clear definition of marriage in the federal Constitution.

“I am greatly encouraged by the collective will and resolve of the Romanian people to stand up for natural marriage,” said Mihet upon his return to the United States. “The pro-family movement in Romania is uniting across generational, political and denominational lines to stand up to the ‘enlightened progressives’ of Western Europe and beyond, and to reclaim Romania’s sovereignty and self-governance. Having participated in the Christmas Revolution of 1989, I know that freedom in Romania was won at much too high a price to now be surrendered,” said Mihet.

Liberty Counsel is an international nonprofit, litigation, education, and policy organization dedicated to advancing religious freedom, the sanctity of life, and the family since 1989, by providing pro bono assistance and representation on these and related topics.