Bulgaria Bans LGBTQ+ ‘Propaganda’ in Schools

Bulgaria’s parliament passed a law banning LGBTQ+ “propaganda” from schools this month, siding with Russia on gay rights.

The law outlines “propaganda (of) nontraditional sexual orientation and/or gender identity other than the biological one” as its basis in a Pro-Russian stance on LGBTQ+ rights. Politico reports that this ban comes via changes to the 2020 Pre-School and School Education Act. It was proposed by the Vazrazhdane Party and passed 159 to 22 in a 240-person parliament.

Protests were held in response to the passage of this law. One student told Mediapool Bulgaria, “I’m a trans person who’s currently in high school; this law incites hatred towards people like me. It doesn’t really help the family, or the children, or anyone. It just prevents people like us from living our normal lives.”

Russia is notorious for its anti-LGBTQ+ policies. In 2022, it banned LGBTQ+ books from libraries. Reuters reports that Russia’s ban effectively initiated removal of LGBTQ+ life in public by creating a legal framework to outlaw “any action or the spreading of any information that is considered an attempt to promote homosexuality in public, online, or in films, books or advertising.”

In opposition to the drafted law, Bulgarian Parliamentarian Elisaveta Belobradova pointed out that the law based its verbiage on a Wikipedia article on “sexual orientation.” This criticism regarded the use of the term “non-traditional” in reference to the bill.

The following was written into the draft law in reference to “nontraditional sexual orientation”: “different from the generally accepted and embedded in the Bulgarian legal tradition concepts of emotional, romantic, sexual, or sensual attraction between persons of opposite sexes.”

“When we take texts from Wikipedia to make laws, it is not right-wing; it is not conservative, and it is not the protection of Bulgarian children, but cheap populism,” Elisaveta Belobradova says.

LGBTQ+ rights group Forbidden Colours also made a statement in regards to the new law: “We unequivocally condemn the recently passed legislation in Bulgaria that bans the portrayal of LGBTIQ+ identities in schools. This law is a blatant attack on children’s rights and echoes the discriminatory policies seen in Russia and Hungary.”

Bulgaria joined the European Union in 2007. It is ranked as the third worst country in the EU for LGBTQ+ rights in 2024, barely beating out Romania and Poland. This discriminatory law is reflective of not only Russia’s but Hungary’s as well. Hungary’s law has been challenged by the European Court of Justice by the European Commission, the European Parliament, and over a dozen nations within the EU including France and Germany.

Bulgarians are preparing to head to the polls for the seventh time since 2021 after parties failed to form a stable government after the most recent election in June.

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