Project / Promoted by: Asociația Vulgar (Vulgar Association), Bucharest, Romania — Researcher/author: Irina Novac
Reporting period: Research conducted August–December 2025 (focus groups) and 2025; published January 2026
Funded by: EuroCentralAsian Lesbian* Community (EL*C) and the European Union
Access to Healthcare Services for LBTQ+ People in Romania – Study
This study by Asociația Vulgar is the first research in Romania focused specifically on the sapphic community’s experiences accessing healthcare, combining five focus groups with 12 queer healthcare professionals and a national online survey of 209 lesbian and queer women. It finds that more than half of respondents avoided a medical consultation for fear of judgment or discrimination, and more than half never disclosed their sexual orientation to a doctor; among those who did come out, 20% received a discriminatory reaction. The report traces these outcomes to structural causes: outdated medical curricula that omit LGBTQ+ health topics, a “don’t ask, don’t tell” climate during medical training and residency, the default assumption of heterosexuality in clinical practice, and the conflation of lesbian/queer women’s needs with those of gay men — with particularly high-stakes gaps in gynecology, family medicine, psychiatry and pharmacy. It closes with immediately actionable solutions for healthcare providers and policy recommendations, informed by the consultative group of sapphic healthcare workers.
