Calls for Bulgarian President Rumen Radev's resignation and for the European Union to impose sanctions on the Balkan country are growing after he signed new anti-LGBTQ amendments to the country's education article into law.
Liberal pro-Europe political group Renew Europe demands "a full investigation by the European Commission" into Bulgaria's action, reported Euronews.
European LGBTQ rights group Forbidden Colours urged the European Union to publicly condemn the anti-gay amendments and take immediate action with sanctions and other mechanisms against Bulgaria in an August 15 news release.
"The European Union cannot stand idly by while one of its member states enacts laws that endanger the safety and rights of LGBTIQ+ individuals," Forbidden Colours stated in an earlier, August 8 release condemning Parliament's passage of the anti-gay amendments.
The group urged the European Commission to "take decisive action against Bulgaria to uphold the principles of equality and human rights that are at the core of the E.U.," according to the release.
Bulgaria joined the European Union in 2007.
Bulgarian LGBTQ activists and allies' outcries have been growing since the beginning of August. Bulgarian lawmakers fast-tracked two anti-LGBTQ amendments targeting students and schools. The anti-gay legislation drew hundreds of opponents during the first half of August protesting at the Parliament building in Sofia, Bulgaria's capital.
Radev ignored calls to veto the legislation from hundreds of LGBTQ, human rights, feminist, and children's rights activists, and academics, who wrote a letter, reported Radio Free Europe/RadioLiberty. Instead, he signed the anti-gay legislation into law on August 15, nine days after the unicameral Parliament passed one amendment with 135 votes out of 240. A supplemental amendment passed with a similar majority vote on August 7, reported RFE/RL. The pro-Russian Revival party introduced the amendments, which were supported by a majority of Bulgarian lawmakers, including some pro-Western factions, after the first and second readings, reported Balkan Insight.
The amendments clarify the definition of "nontraditional sexual orientation" in the country's Law for Pre-School and School Education. The two amendments also prohibit minors at schools from talking about "propaganda, popularisation and encouragement, directly or indirectly, of ideas and views connected to nontraditional sexual orientation or to gender-identifying different from the biological."
The law was published in Bulgaria's State Gazette and went into immediate effect on August 16, reported RFE/RL. Bulgaria's Orthodox Church welcomed the amendments in an August 8 statement, reported the news service.
"I was in total shock that this thing was accepted," Ivan, who only wanted to be identified by his first name, told RFE/RL. "And I'm still in complete shock."
Ivan, a 34-year-old gay Bulgarian junior high and high school math teacher, was on vacation with his husband when the amendments became law. The laws hit close to home, which made him pay attention to politics more than usual, he told the news outlet. He was glued to his phone watching what was happening.
False perceptions
Bulgarian lawmakers argued they were protecting children from the normalization of nontraditional sexual orientation and gender identity, which they deemed as an unacceptable problem in schools and the media, reported Euractiv.
The Russian-styled law mirrors similar anti-LGBTQ legislation passed by Bosnia, Hungary, Moldova, and Turkey, reported the Associated Press.
Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the Anti-Homosexuality Propaganda Act into law in 2013. Putin and the Kremlin have since passed more restrictive measures on LGBTQ Russians, including banning the LGBTQ movement last year. LGBTQ people and organizations have since been under severe attack. Many have left Russia and operate outside the country's border.
RFL/RL reported the Bulgarian law flies in the face of the European Court of Human Rights. Last year, the Strasbourg-based court obliged Bulgaria to create a legal framework to recognize same-sex relationships, reported Human Rights Watch. Bulgaria's government did not comply, according to RFL/RL.
Balkan government officials told reporters they felt they needed to move quickly following the recent Eurovision Song Contest, won by a nonbinary contestant; the Olympics in Paris that included two transgender or nonbinary athletes (but no transgender women); and Western influences allegedly "creeping" into Bulgarian schools.
Socialist Party leader Kornelia Ninova told the Balkan Insight that she was warned by Bulgarian families abroad about the dangers of "gender ideology" promoted in the West and claimed it was "creeping into and taking over Bulgarian schools."
Sanya, a protester at the Parliament August 7 and 8, balked at Bulgarian lawmakers' claims. She called the lawmakers' arguments supporting the two anti-LGBTQ bills fake, telling RFL/RE they were based on "fictional images" of people turning gay after succumbing to pro-LGBTQ propaganda.
"I haven't heard of a single case of an adult or a child [being subjected to propaganda] and becoming gay," Sanya, 35, who only wanted to be identified by her first name, told RFE/RL.
"All the speeches we heard ... in parliament have no connection to reality," she said. "[Lawmakers] are talking about things that do not exist. These fears are just fears. LGBT people just want to live happily and peacefully."
LevFem, a Bulgarian feminist organization, expressed concern about the laws restricting discussion about LGBTQ people in schools. The organization told Balkan Insight it would hamper schools' ability "to oppose violence and harassment against LGBTI+ students' experience," following the amendment's passage.
International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association — Europe, a non-governmental organization, criticized the law.
"Given the extremely fast-tracked procedure for this law, its clear political aim is to scapegoat LGBTI people and legislate against their human rights," stated Chaber, ILGA-Europe's executive director. They only use one name.
Political scapegoats
Homophobic rhetoric is rampant in political debates and the media amid Bulgaria's political instability, reported Euractiv. On August 19, Radev rejected the new caretaker government put forward by interim Prime Minister Goritsa Grancharova-Kozhareva, reported Euronews.
Radev said the interim government wouldn't guarantee that parliamentary elections would be fair.
Bulgaria had faced its seventh parliamentary election in October following a snap election in June. Bulgarians have gone to the polls six times within the last three and a half years, reported Euactiv and Euronews. Radev's rejection of Grancharova-Kozhareva's cabinet means the elections are now indefinitely postponed.
Ivan, the schoolteacher, told RFE/RL he has questions about the vaguely worded law.
He wears his wedding ring at school, which draws questions from students, parents, and faculty. Ivan married his husband in Denmark. The couple are raising a child together.
"I always tell them I have a husband. It's not something I hide," he told RFE/RL, stating that in his 11 years at the school he's received one negative reaction. "The reaction is usually surprise, but nothing more."
Now he wonders if he can respond to questions about his personal life honestly. He wonders about his students who have same-sex parents, what will happen to them if they speak openly about their family. He worries about his school and other schools if they hire openly gay teachers. "Is that a violation?" he asked.
"[The amendment] is so general that everything can fall into the category of 'propaganda,'" Ivan said.
An Agency for Fundamental Rights 2024 study found 72% of LGBTQ Bulgarian respondents indicated they had been bullied at school due to their sexual orientation or gender identity, reported RFE/RL.
Liz Throssell, spokesperson of the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights, citing the survey, called for Bulgarian authorities to "take urgent steps to prevent and combat violence, discrimination, and bullying, particularly against LGBT youth and within the education system," in an August 16 statement from the UNCHR responding to Radev's signing the amendments into law.
LGBTQ rights in Bulgaria
Bulgaria legalized homosexuality in 1968, according to Equaldex, but progress has been mixed. According to the U.S. State Department's latest Human Rights Report, published in April, violence against LGBTQ people is common despite anti-discrimination laws against sexual orientation, gender identity, expression, or sex characteristics. Bulgarian authorities do not enforce anti-discrimination laws. Same-sex couples and families are not legally recognized. Last year, lawmakers passed amendments to hate crime laws to apply to sexual orientation.
Bulgaria ranks 38th out of 49 countries on the IGLA-Europe's Rainbow Map.
However, a 2023 survey found that attitudes about LGBTQ people among Bulgarians are neutral and improving. Alpha Research, which conducted the survey, found 42% of 1,000 adult Bulgarians who participated in the study indicated they would not change their attitude toward a loved one if they found out the person was LGBTQ. One in three participants responded they would feel comfortable working with LGBTQ people. Only 43% of respondents considered themselves tolerant of LGBTQ people.
Alpha Research conducted a similar survey in 2019. Comparing the two reports, researchers found tolerance for sexual orientation increased from 24% to 28% between 2019 and 2023.
Researchers surveyed 1,000 Bulgarian participants in the fall of 2023. The survey was commissioned by the Gays and Lesbians Accepted in Society Foundation.
Protests
At the recent protests, Euronews and RFE/RL reported demonstrators waved rainbow flags and chanted: "Bulgaria is no Russia," "Silence means death," "Fascism kills, power covers up," and "Shame on you."
LevFem and Feminist Mobilizations joined Bulgarian LGBTQ organization, Action (LGBT Deystvie), and held up a banner reading: "School for all! Let's stop the hate!"
A smaller counterprotest happened in a different part of the city. Bulgarian police stepped up security on August 15. No violence was reported.
Action launched a petition along with other activist groups. Interested people can sign the petition here. (The petition is in Bulgarian. Google Translate does not automatically translate it, but it is easy to copy and paste into Google Translate.)
Got international LGBTQ news tips? Call or send them to Heather Cassell at WhatsApp/Signal: 415-517-7239, or [email protected]
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