Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Since Trajan and Decebalus: online media reporting of the 2010 GayFest in Bucharest

2013; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 5; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/19419899.2013.784211

1941-9899

Sebastian E. Bartoş, Marius A. Balş, Israel Berger,

LGBTQ Health, Identity, and Policy

AbstractThe current study uses critical discourse analysis to examine how a high-profile gay pride event in Romania, the annual Bucharest GayFest, is represented by online media outlets. Same-gender relationships were only decriminalised in Romania a decade ago, and research on Romanian sexualities is scarce. In order to examine the construction of homosexualities in Romania, we employed critical discourse analysis on 23 internet news reports of a gay pride event. Three major themes emerged: the GayFest as exotic, the GayFest as a political event and the link between sexuality and national identity. Both exoticising and politicising discourses contribute to the positioning of gay people outside the nation. Pro-gay voices complement this marginalising perspective by reproducing political discourse. Only one statement in the news reports could be read against minoritising discourses: an ironic banner construed the trope of founding fathers (Trajan and Decebalus, in the case of Romania) as a potentially homoerotic motif, and thus undermined the relationship between nationalism and homophobia. The implications of these findings are discussed; the link of nationalism to homophobia and the almost unquestioned marginalisation of gay people are especially scrutinised.Keywords: gay culturehomophobianationalismRomaniagay pridemedia representation AcknowledgementsThe authors wish to thank Dr Andreea Mogoş (Babeş-Bolyai University) for her suggestions on data collection, Dr Peter Hegarty (University of Surrey) for his comments on the analysis, and Mihai Varga (Babeş-Bolyai University) for his help with legislation.Additional informationNotes on contributorsSebastian E. BartoşSebastian E. Bartoş is currently teaching and pursuing doctoral research at the University of Surrey. He holds an MA in Clinical Psychology from the Babes-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. His PhD thesis, supervised by Dr Peter Hegarty, focuses on strategies to reduce homophobia. Sebastian's primary interest is in Eastern European sexualities, and he has published papers on diverse topics such as online personals advertisements and gay men's bereavement.Marius A. BalşMarius A. Balş is a clinical psychologist and cognitive behavioural psychotherapist and holds a BA in Psychology from the Babes-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. He is engaged in the master's programme in Clinical Psychology, Counseling Psychology and Psychotherapy, and the master's programme in Health Psychology at the Babes-Bolyai University. His research interests include three main areas: body dissatisfaction and muscle dysmorphia, the perception of minorities and cognitive behavioural treatment of clinical perfectionism.Israel BergerIsrael Berger received his PhD in psychology from the University of Roehampton. His research examines areas of health communication and social determinants of health.