The Romanian Humanist Association held a press conference in London on June 10, 2009, in partnership with the Sophie Lancaster Foundation. The goal of the conference was to launch the Black Cat Campaign.

Today, July 10, 2009, the Romanian Humanist Association is pleased to announce the official launching of the Black Cat Campaign (web site: www.black-cat.ro).

A large number of incidents of intolerance, violence and discrimination have been reported in Romania and throughout the world against individuals who choose to adopt an “unconventional” look, dress “differently” or manifest their preference for musical genres such as goth, rock, metal, punk, emo, hippie etc.
We chose our name (“Black Cat”) given the many preconceived ideas about this animal, preposterously associated with witchcraft or evil.
The Sophie Lancaster Foundation began its activity in 2007 after the death of Sophie Lancaster, [a young British woman] who was killed because she was dressed as a “goth.” The goal of the foundation is to fight against prejudice, hate and intolerance based on clothing or musical preference. In initiating the Black Cat Campaign, we at the Romanian Humanist Associated were inspired by the activity of this foundation and the unfortunate realization that there are many such cases in Romania as well.

Sophie Lancaster (26.11.1986 – 24.08.2007)
The Campaign’s Romanian partners are the groups Metalhead, Black Widow and Beauty of Pain.
The British Humanist Association took notice of our campaign and published an article on the topic of our London press conference.

The press conference (part one and part two):

The film that officially launched our campaign, which presents both the Sophie Lancaster case and several other Romanian incidents of violence, can be seen here:

A second film presenting Romanian cases can be seen here:

We urge all those who have had the unfortunate experience of being victims of similar discrimination, violence and intolerance to get in touch with us and tell us about it. We take privacy very seriously and will make sure that your identity remains confidential.
We are also inviting Romanian media to support us in this campaign. We urge them to reconsider publishing materials that can generate hatred and intolerance towards our youth or other “unconventional” groups whose clothing or musical preferences clash with those of the general public. For instance, publicly associating certain young people with Satanism or other such “evil” practices just because they listen to a certain kind of music is bound to generate prejudice and perpetuate negative stereotypes.
We encourage blogs and web sites to support the Black Cat campaign by displaying our advertising banner which can be found here.
We also need as many volunteers as possible for our upcoming projects.
Those who wan to get involved should write us at blackcatcampaign@gmail.com .

The Romanian Humanist Association
July 10, 2009
Contact:
Remus Cernea
President
www.secularhumanism.ro
www.evolutionism.ro
www.black-cat.ro

asociatiaumanista@gmail.com