On Wednesday 7 August, the Bulgarian Parliament passed a law banning LGBT+ “propaganda” in schools.
Drawing inspiration from Hungarian and Russian legislation, a legislative amendment proposed by the far-right pro-Russian party Vazrajdane was adopted by 159 votes to 22, with 13 abstentions, to prohibit the “encouragement” of “non-traditional sexual orientation” and a gender identity “other than biological”.
Since Thursday 8 August, rallies have been held in Bulgaria to express outrage, but various reactions within the European community have also pointed at the impact of this legislation on fundamental rights and European values.
French MEP Mélissa Camara (Greens/EFA) reacted indignantly on the X network on Friday 23 August, calling on the European Commission to initiate infringement proceedings against Bulgaria.
In an interview with LGBT+ magazine Têtu (https://aeur.eu/f/d7w ), she denounced the law as homophobic and called for “Bulgaria’s LGBT-phobic drift” to be “curbed”.
Earlier, on Wednesday 21 August, the Renew Europe group also expressed its concern in a press release (https://aeur.eu/f/d7v ). Valérie Hayer (French), its President, condemned this law, noting similar regressive moves in Russia and Hungary, and urged the European Parliament and the Commission to prevent its implementation.
In a statement published on 7 August (https://aeur.eu/f/d7u ), the European branch of the International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA-Europe) described the text as an attack on children’s rights and a political tool in the run-up to the national elections scheduled for October in Bulgaria. (Original version in French by Nithya Paquiry)