Our Existence is Resistance: Proudly Queer, Unapologetically Roma.
14 January 2026
In May 2024, on Roma Resistance Day, the ERRC launched its flagship LGBTQI+ Roma initiative: RoMagic. This project has been deeply personal to me. It has been an immense honour, opportunity, and privilege to share a space where others can experience the world through the eyes, body, and mind of someone whom society often fears, hates, seeks to torture, or even erase.
As a queer Romani person, my own path has been shaped by fear, guilt, oppression, bullying, and violence. Yet along this road, I have also learned to forgive and to see beauty in what is, undeniably, a unique experience. That is why I am so proud to present an initiative that celebrates an existence, and a kind of love, that many insist we should reject.
For me, the very fact of Romani LGBTIQ+ existence is already an act of resistance. RoMagic is magical precisely because it brings us together as LGBTIQ+ Roma.
The ERRC is not a cultural or arts organisation. We are a legal organisation: we use public law in courtrooms to expose how governments discriminate against their own citizens, particularly on the basis of ethnicity. LGBTIQ+ Roma are so marginalised, so invisible in the public imagination, that the first step must simply be to affirm that we exist. From there, we can begin to understand the struggles, identify systemic injustices, and confront these things through the law. We believe only legally binding decisions create lasting change. Anything else is merely a promise, dependent on goodwill—soft advocacy against a harsh reality. And too often, such efforts fail.
This project was created by activists, so our first considerations were practical, not stylistic. We did not always follow the prescribed methods of documentary photography. Many of the people photographed or interviewed are fellow activists.
But this is also art, and art has a life of its own. For me, however, art without activism is only decoration. Through art we distil the essence of humanity. We reveal the simple truth of human life and present it as a call to support one another in the most natural and universal way.
The inequalities LGBTIQ+ Roma face are not the product of scarcity; our planet has enough space, resources, and opportunities for all. They stem instead from people taking more than their share, to deliberately keep others in the dark. Prejudice and hate, fuelled by greed and fear, drive harm where help is possible. Yet even for those people, RoMagic offers a chance: an invitation to reflect, to change behaviours that endanger lives. At its heart, this project carries a simple message: do not hurt people simply because they may be different from you.
This initiative speaks to the welfare of us all. It asks us to confront the meaning of humanity in our time, a question that should be simple, but feels impossible when, even as I write these lines, a genocide continues in Palestine without even a political consensus to stop it.
I hope this project offers new, positive narratives. I hope it gives our families – our mothers, fathers, grandparents, and all who love us – words of courage when neighbours ask if they fear their queer Romani children will burn in hell. I hope it strengthens younger generations of queer Roma, so they choose life even when the struggle feels unbearable. We have walked that path; now we stand ready to walk beside them, offering support and care, even with what few resources we have.
RoMagic is a call to reject the forces that violate and oppress, and to stand with those that protect. It is a call for solidarity not competition in suffering. Let Roma rights unite us. Let LGBTIQ+ rights unite us. Let Romani and LGBTIQ+ people together show us another path: one of justice, dignity, and humanity.
Above all, I extend my deepest gratitude to everyone who contributed to this project. Your courage has made it possible. Today, and always, you should be celebrated for affirming our existence as proudly queer, unapologetically Roma.
This text was adapted from the forward of the digital photobook accompanying the exhibition RoMagic: Proudly Queer, Unapologetically Roma which was held in Brussels, Bucharest, and Belgrade in the latter part of 2025.
