Bulgaria’s parliament on Wednesday passed a law banning “propaganda” of “non-traditional sexual orientation” in schools.
The amendment to the law on pre-school and school education prohibits “propaganda, popularisation and promotion, directly or indirectly, of ideas and attitudes related to non-traditional sexual orientation or gender identity other than biological.”
A total of 135 out of 240 MPs voted in favour of the law. Backing from the Bulgarian Socialist Party was expected, but the bill passed largely thanks to unexpected support from the pro-European centre-right GERB party.
More than half of the deputies from the reformist opposition duo We Continue Change/Democratic Bulgaria missed the first reading vote for unclear reasons, but the alliance took a more active role in the second reading by voting against it. A total of 57 MPs voted against, while eight from GERB abstained.
Supporters of the legislative changes argue that they reflect the spirit of the Bulgarian constitution, which allows marriage only between a man and a woman, as well as Orthodox Christian values.
The amendments describe “non-traditional sexual orientation” as “differing from the generally accepted and rooted in Bulgarian legal tradition notions of emotional, romantic, sexual or sensual attraction between persons of the opposite sex.”
Bulgaria’s Supreme Court ruled in 2023 that judicial “gender reassignment” is inadmissible under existing legislation, stressing that “gender is recognised at birth and defines a person until death”.
Meanwhile, in another European country, Georgia’s parliament approved the first reading of a package of laws banning LGBT propaganda proposed by the ruling Georgian Dream party. The second and third readings are scheduled for the autumn parliamentary session, just before the elections scheduled for October 26.
