Parliament banned on Wednesday with a large majority of the so-called propaganda of "non-traditional sexual orientation" among children. This happened with a first reading amendment to the Law on Preschool and School Education brought by "Revival" and supported by GERB, DPS, BSP, "There is such a people" (ITN), all 16 independent deputies and two from "We continue the change - Democratic Bulgaria" (PP-DB).
The first vote passed with 154 votes "for", 8 "against" and 9 "abstained". Immediately after that, Georgi Svilenski proposed that his colleagues immediately move on to discussing the bill in the second reading, which was adopted by a large majority.
It comes a week after the changes were backed by a large majority at a meeting of the Education and Science Committee. Similar legislation has been in effect for years in Russia, where since the end of last year, all activities in defense of the LGBT community, regardless of age, have been banned.
What's changing
The new texts in the law prohibit the following activities in the preschool and school education system:
- The imposition of ideological and/or religious doctrines;
- Carrying out political and party activities;
- Performing propaganda, promoting or inciting in any way, directly or indirectly, ideas and views related to non-traditional sexual orientation and/or determination of gender identity other than biological.
The most criticism was regarding the imperfection of the term "non-traditional sexual orientation", which coincides perfectly with the definition in "Wikipedia".
The following is written in the draft law: "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".
The main arguments in defense of the legal changes were that they reflect the spirit of the Constitution of the Republic of Bulgaria, which stipulates that marriage is concluded only between a man and a woman, as well as Orthodox values.
Who said what
The only deputies who voted against the proposed by "Vazrazhdane" ban were seven members of the PP-DB group and one from GERB. Five from PP-DB and four from GERB abstained. All others present in the plenary hall voted "for".
The main criticisms of the bill came from "We continue the change - Democratic Bulgaria" (PP-DB) in the person of Elisaveta Belobradova. Criticism was also made by Tervel Georgiev from GERB, but the rest of the statements from his group were in support of the ban.
During the approximately three-hour debate, appeals for support of traditional Orthodox and family values were heard - by Yordan Tsonev from DPS and by Petar Nikolov from GERB.
According to Nikolov, the world is currently divided into two: "On one side are the people who defend traditional values, and on the other – the people who tear them down."
Cornelia Ninova from the BSP called for the removal of the "perversions" from the schools, and Krasimir Velchev from GERB added that it is good to consider the next step - introducing the subject "Religion".
"Gender ideology is creeping in and will take over Bulgarian schools," said Ninova, who recalled that while she was chairwoman of the BSP, the party actively opposed the adoption of the Istanbul Convention.
The document in question provided for measures to prevent and combat violence against women and domestic violence. The Istanbul Convention entered into force throughout the European Union (EU) on October 1, 2023, but in Bulgaria this happened only partially.
The only critical voice in GERB against the changes was that of Tervel Georgiev. He noted that similar legislation exists only in Russia, but not within the EU.
He was replicated by fellow party members Petar Nikolov and Daniel Mitov. According to the two, it is the people who support the rights of the LGBT community who are the reason for the Kremlin's successful hybrid attacks in Europe.
"Such types of ideologies are destructive and without them the Putin regime would have nothing to rely on," Mitov said.
Nikolov called the activists for the rights of people of different sexual orientation "Putin's useful idiots".
Elisaveta Belobradova and Yavor Bozhankov from the PP-DB accused the majority in the parliament of pre-election populism. According to Belobradova, the passed amendment pursues "an imaginary risk that does not exist" and called it a "normative misunderstanding".
How is it in Russia
In December 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law banning the so-called the propaganda of the LGBT community, pedophilia and gender reassignment. It covers all ages. Previously, Russian law prohibited such actions only among minors.
A year after the signing of the new law, at the end of 2023, the Supreme Court of Russia declared the LGBT movement to be “extremist”. With this, Moscow banned the activities of organizations and activists for the rights of homosexual, bisexual and trans people.
This happened after two weeks earlier the Russian Ministry of Justice asked the court to define the “international social LGBT movement” for an extremist structure. The court decision has provoked fears in Russia that it will serve to repress not only people of different sexual orientations, but also human rights defenders.