VULGAR, a Bucharest-based queer feminist organisation, confronted the hidden traumas sapphics face in Romania’s healthcare system amid rising far-right threats. Their project “Advocating for systematic change to improve services for lesbians” bridged gaps between lesbians, doctors and feminist NGOs, aligning with the EL*C Strengthening the Lesbian Movement regranting program‘s goals of enhancing advocacy capacity, political influence, and lesbian rights protection.
Amid Romania’s fragile democracy and service discrimination, the project flowed naturally from community research to networks, campaigns, and capacity-building that transformed relationships and resources.
The journey began with lesbian healthcare professionals gathering for peer learning and focus groups, sharing experiences. This fed into a comprehensive survey capturing raw stories of discrimination, distilled into a manual blending micro-level doctor guidance with macro policy recommendations. The manual’s roundtable drew feminist, LGBTQ+ and medical voices, despite missing Ministry reps, sparking media coverage that exposed unreported discrimination gaps.
Parallely, an awareness raising campaign was introduced through five intimate video testimonials of lesbians sharing healthcare encounters, rippling across social media to shift public conversations. Meanwhile, peer learning circles with feminist organisations have uncovered service blind spots, evolving into advocacy trainings and a collaborative roundtable that produced signed policy requests to Romania’s discrimination council. The crowning 54-page toolkit – co-created with six groups – became a practical guide for inclusive lesbian support.
The impact of the project is unquestionably broad and deep. Lesbian doctors emerged empowered, ready to advocate collectively. Feminist NGOs gained tools and lesbian perspectives, with VULGAR joining Romania’s Gender Equality Coalition as the sole queer voice. Concrete resources – manual, toolkit, videos – gave lesbians unprecedented service navigation clarity while exposing systemic failures. Bridges formed where isolation once reigned: doctors befriending activists, feminists embracing queer needs, media amplifying silenced stories. These shifts built Vulgar’s credibility, opening politician doors and sustained networks for trainings, policy work and gynecologist expansion – ensuring safer healthcare endures beyond the project.
