Against the odds, they lost.

Just over 20% of voters, out of the 30% needed for the referendum to be validated, actually showed up on the 6th and 7th of October to vote.

Out of those, roughly 9% voted “no” in the bid to restrict marriage to heterosexual couples. Another 70.000 or so invalidated their own votes (I’d like to think they drew cocks, but who knows). Most people simply boycotted this initiative altogether.

The protestants bringing US money into this campaign were butthurt. So was the Orthodox church (or the Octodox church, as I like to call it, as it resembles a mighty octopus). So was the main governing party, now blamed by everyone in this majestic failure. So was everyone who genuinely thought this was an important, consequential decision to make.

No, they’re not getting to turn Romania into Europe’s Iran just yet.