Puiu Hașotti

Puiu Hașotti
Member of the Chamber of Deputies
In office
22 Nov 1996 – 10 Dec 2000
11 Dec 2000  11 Dec 2004
Constituencyno. 14 (Constanța)
Senator of Romania
Assumed office
13 Dec 2004 – 12 Dec 2008
15 Dec 2008
Constituencyno. 14 (Constanța)
Leader of the National Liberal Party group in the Senate
Assumed office
4 April 2007
Constituencyno. 14 (Constanța)
Minister of Culture
In office
25 June 2012  21 December 2012
PresidentTraian Basescu
Prime MinisterVictor Ponta
Preceded byMircea Diaconu
Succeeded byDaniel Barbu
Personal details
Born (1953-06-14) 14 June 1953
Political partyNational Liberal Party

Puiu Hașotti (Romanian pronunciation: [ˈpuju ˈhaʃoti]; born 14 June 1953) is a social conservative Romanian politician of Aromanian descent. He is a vice-president of the National Liberal Party (PNL) and the leader of the party's group in the Senate.

In April 2013, Hașotti incited controversy by declaring that he considers gay people to be "sick people". He also said that, "Homosexuality is not a normal state, it is not a natural relationship". The comments were made in the context of political debate about same-sex civil unions in Romania. Accept, Romania's national LGBT rights organisation, stated that they believed Hașotti's comments were a breach of anti-discrimination law and would report him to the National Council for Combating Discrimination.