Bulgarians take to the streets to protest regressive ban on LGBTQ+ ‘propaganda’ in schools

LGBTQ+ people and their allies have rallied outside Bulgaria’s national assembly building to denounce an amendment to a law which will ban so-called LGBTQ+ propaganda in schools.

The update to the country’s 2020 Pre-school and School Education Act, proposed by the pro-Russian Vazrazhdane Party, was passed on Wednesday (7 August) by 159 votes to 22, with 12 abstentions.

The amendment outlaws the “propaganda, promotion or incitement in any way, directly or indirectly in the education system” and now defines “non-traditional sexual orientation” as “different from the generally accepted and established notions in the Bulgarian legal tradition of emotional, romantic, sexual or sensual attraction between persons of opposite sexes”.

Pushing back against the move – which follows president Vladimir Putin’s crackdown on queer rights in Russia – LGBTQ+, human rights and feminist groups protested in the capital, Sofia, on Thursday (8 August).

Protesters waved rainbow Pride flags and held signs which read “silence = death” and “cis-heteronormativity = propaganda”. The crowd also chanted slogans such as “Bulgaria is no Russia” and “silence means death”.

Coverage by the Associated Press does not suggest there was any violence.

After the amendment was passed, queer rights group Deystvie said “Bulgaria is following in Russia’s footsteps”, with lawyer Denitsa Lyubenova saying the new law “implicitly foreshadows a witch-hunt and sanctions any educational efforts related to LGBTQ people in school”.

Deystvie, alongside a number of other groups, has launched a petition calling for the amendment to be dropped, which they plan to hand to president Rumen Radev on Monday (12 August).

“We believe that the voted law should be vetoed, as it is not legally enforceable and is in violation of the Law on Protection from Discrimination and the European Convention on Human Rights,” the petition reads.

Feminist organisation LevFem called the legislation a “hate law”, writing on social media that the country’s “MPs turned school into an even more dangerous place for teenagers”, adding: “They normalised violence against LGBT+ people and denied LGBT+ youth access to information and life-saving support during the most difficult time of their lives.”

Overall, Bulgaria has a less-than-glowing record when it comes to LGBTQ+ rights and is listed 107th in the world for queer rights by Equaldex. While homosexuality is legal, equal marriage is not, the Constitution of Bulgaria (1991) defining marriage as a “free union between a man and a woman”.

In October 2022, a report by the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance called on the Balkan nation’s leaders to crack down on anti-LGBTQ+ behaviour.

The report, focused on addressing inequality in Bulgaria, identified the LGBTQ+ community, as well as Roma people, as “the main victims of public expressions of hatred and prejudice” in the country. However, last year, the Supreme Court sided with a singer who branded gay people “perverts”.

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