Romania has a short history when it comes to sexual minorities; there has been significant change only in the last decade, especially with regard to legal provisions, but also improvements in the social climate, through implementing principles of individual freedom and the respect of private life. Romanian homosexuals have for long been victims of repression and forced to live in secret; they have been marginalized to live in shame and were not socially tolerated. Today they demand the right to exist and participate in the society. Mainly through a case study focused on “Accept”€, Romania’€™s most important gay and lesbian organization, this article aims at examining the first steps of the homosexual liberation in this country until 2001, the year of decriminalizing same sex relationships. A brief overlook on the past tries to establish the roots of criminalization of LGBTs in Romania. The context of European integration and the radical social reconstruction following the collapse of the communist regime are important marks of this approach in the quest for clarifying the social and political dynamics of decriminalizing homosexuality and the accomplishments of gay and lesbian activism in this country.