If the law allows teenagers over 16 to receive psychological therapy without parental consent, they will be chemically castrated and converted to LGBTQ+, according to a false narrative promoted even from the rostrum of the Senate of Romania.
NEWS: USR and Choice want to chemically castrate Romania’s children. Get parents out of schools.
I never thought I would live to see this in the Senate of Romania. Colleagues from USR have introduced a bill allowing a 16-year-old child to receive psychological counseling without parental consent, without a mother, without a father. [...] I told them to their faces in the Health Commission, and I am telling them here from the Senate rostrum: puberty is not a disease, puberty is not the issue. Puberty is the solution. God made puberty to follow its natural course, and it resolves children's struggles.
What do you want to do? Bombard children who haven't even gone through puberty with blockers and hormones? Meaning chemical castration? Is that what you want, to destroy entire generations? Your model from America and the West has failed miserably: children mutilated for life who commit suicide because they realized they were lied to.
Let me tell you what your diabolical pattern is: 1. Remove parents from schools and counseling by law. 2. Bring your LGBT NGOs, like Choice, into schools to provide affirmative counseling without parents' knowledge.3. Push the confused child toward transition and hormones.
This is not counseling; it is recruitment, it is child trafficking at an institutional level. As long as AUR is in this Parliament, you will not lay a hand on our children. Romania is a Christian country, the family consists of a mother and a father, and our children are not your progressive guinea pigs [...].
NARRATIVES: 1. Psychological counseling without parental consent means it will be taken over by LGBTQ+ organizations, which will convert minors to homosexuality and chemically castrate them.2. Passing a law regarding counseling for teenagers over 16 means banning parental access to schools.
PURPOSE: To amplify homophobic rhetoric promoted in sovereignist and ultra-conservative circles, as well as externally by Russia, regarding the existence of a so-called “LGBT agenda”, aimed at destroying the traditional family and Christian moral values, as well as forcibly converting young people to homosexuality. To secure electoral benefits by inducing and/or amplifying suspicion and hostility toward the LGBT community among a broad segment of the population that holds conservative views and is poorly informed on several topics, the challenges faced by teenagers, fundamental rights and freedoms, the nature of sexual orientation, the distinction between advocating for rights and propaganda, etc. To minimize the effects of domestic violence and violence in general, especially given that within AUR there are multiple examples of verbal violence, bullying, homophobic speech, physical violence or even domestic abuse, from rank-and-file members to the party leadership.
The bill on psychological counseling has no connection to sexual orientation, the LGBTQ+ community or hormonal treatments
WHY THE NARRATIVES ARE FALSE: Neither the bill nor the explanatory memorandum of the initiative, authored by Senators Ruxandra Cibu Deaconu, Cynthia Păun, Sorin Gheorghe Sipos and Gheorghe Ștefanache, and reviewed by Veridica, contains the words “sex”, “gender”, “orientation”, or “LGBTQ+”, not even once. Nor are there any other terms that would suggest any link to minors' sexual orientation, gender identity, conversion therapy, hormonal treatments or organizations promoting LGBTQ+ rights.
There is no provision regarding chemical castration or the administration of hormones. Chemical castration entails pharmacological interventions, whereas the bill does not provide for the administration of medication or even discussions about such matters.
The bill does not ban parents from schools. It merely gives teenagers over 16 the right to ask for help. Psychologists are required to contact parents if they identify any danger
Neither the bill (which was rejected by the Senate and submitted to the Chamber of Deputies for consultation and a vote) nor the explanatory memorandum mentions children's legal representatives in any context other than allowing minors to request specialized help from psychologists without requiring parental consent.
Furthermore, the bill does not ban parents from entering schools, take away their right to talk with teachers, attend parent-teacher meetings or be involved in their child's life and education, nor does it transfer parental rights and authority to the school psychologist.
On the contrary, as phrased in the proposed draft, the law does not force students to see a psychologist without parental consent. Rather, it gives them the option to access specialized counseling if they cannot obtain consent from their legal representatives.
Moreover, the bill explicitly states that whenever psychotherapists determine that minors are in danger (being abused, at risk of harming themselves or others, etc.), they are legally obligated to contact the students’ legal representatives.
The bill is necessary given that many children in Romania are victims of domestic violence
BACKGROUND: The bill actually aims to help teenagers who are experiencing domestic violence or other forms of abuse from their parents, or those who feel they need help but whose parents (or legal representatives) refuse to go to therapy due to various reasons (shame, prejudice, etc.).
A national study by the National Agency for Equal Opportunities (ANES), a government agency, shows that approximately 10,000 minors (aged 0–17) fall victim to domestic violence every year, accounting for nearly 80% of all domestic violence victims. However, experts note that these are only official, reported figures, as the actual number is much higher.
For instance, another study by Save the Children, published in August 2026, indicates double the number of minor victims of violence (over 20,000), roughly 16,000 of whom are victims of domestic violence.
The “LGBTQ+ agenda”, an obsession of sovereignists and Russian propaganda
Domestic and school violence have escalated recently. Two examples are the high number of femicides committed in Romania (many in the presence of children) and extreme acts of violence in schools, partly driven by radicalization and the polarization of political, xenophobic and homophobic discourse (such as the case of the student who stabbed a classmate and a teacher due to religious radicalization).
This type of discourse is often fueled by members of Romania’s far-right political faction through aggressive messaging focused on ultra-nationalist, anti-LGBTQ+, anti-Semitic or ultra-religious themes.
Such narratives are predominantly spread on TikTok and adopted without critical thinking by many users who, lacking the proper oversight, access social media platforms at increasingly younger ages.
The existence of a so-called “LGBTQ+ agenda” is a recurring obsession among sovereignist and ultra-conservative circles, as well as in Russian propaganda. The rhetoric of far-right, sovereignist and ultra-conservative politicians (such as Viktor Orbán in Hungary or AUR representatives in Romania) echo similar themes from Russian propaganda, which for years has pushed false narratives contrasting a West depicted as depraved and immoral, a “Gayrope” seeking to legalize pedophilia, with “traditional: family and Christian values. In Romania, proponents of the sovereignist movement (including members of AUR) frequently promote the false theory that the EU and NGOs such as Choice, Accept or Mosaiq seek to forcibly reorient children toward the LGBTQ+ community, while minimizing the fundamental rights that members of this community should have in a constitutional state.
Over time, Veridica has debunked several similar disinformation campaigns, ranging from false claims that “Romanian students are forced to watch movies promoting suicide and homosexuality”, to claims that minors “will be able to choose their own gender”.
