In Bulgaria, NGOs and lawyers launched a petition against a new school law that was passed by parliament last week. They believe that the law banning LGBTQ content in schools is unconstitutional.

The draft, which is based on similar laws in Hungary and Russia, was submitted by the pro-Russian Revival party and was quickly adopted on August 7, 2024. 159 out of 240 deputies in the Bulgarian parliament voted. Among them were deputies from the center-right GERB-SDS alliance, the ITN party, the Socialists and the Bulgarian Muslim party DPS. The liberal-conservative PP-DB alliance was the first to vote against the amendment.

Insults in the Assembly

The amendment prohibits the dissemination of information about "non-traditional sexual orientations" and identities that differ from biological sex. Advocates want to ensure that there are no discussions of LGBTQ issues in schools. It's propaganda, they say. According to them, children must be protected from alleged homosexuality or gender reassignment.

22 MPs voted against the law. Among them was Javor Bozhankov from the liberal party "We continue with the changes" (PP). In an interview with DV, he talks about the difficult arguments in the Bulgarian parliament, which led to physical attacks and insults against LGBTQ people. "An MP from the pro-Russian Revival party attacked me, shouting: 'Father, Fader!'" he says. Bozhankov also says that every time that deputy passes by the place where his parliamentary group is sitting, he shouts: "Here's the fag!"

Is the law unconstitutional?

On the other hand, the leader of the pro-Russian party Prerodba, Kostadin Kostadinov, welcomed the passing of the law and encouraged political parties in other European countries to join Bulgaria: "During the past decades in the EU, USA and Canada, the thesis that there is no traditional and non-traditional sexual orientation is gradually spreading. What they have been imposing for decades has just collapsed in Bulgaria."

However, many lawyers believe that the law violates the Bulgarian Constitution, is incorrectly written from a legal point of view, and even contains parts copied directly from Wikipedia. Political analyst Daniel Smilov wrote the following in an analysis for DV in Bulgarian: "This law is uneducated obscurity disguised as state power. It is also political stupidity with potentially great consequences for Bulgaria."

Bulgarian human rights activists are also protesting against the law. Not only is it meaningless, but it is also discriminatory, and it is in contradiction with the European Convention on Human Rights, they state from there. They called on President Rumen Radev to veto the law and not sign it.

Approval among voters

However, according to polls, the majority of voters in Bulgaria believe that such bans are correct. For this reason, not only nationalists and pro-Russian MPs voted for the law, but also parties that are members of the European People's Party (EPP), as well as those from the family of liberal parties in the European Parliament. In an interview for DV, Javor Bojankov says that it seems that the leader of the largest parliamentary party GERB, the long-time Prime Minister Boyko Borisov, is turning his back on the values ​​of the European People's Party, to whose family his party belongs.

"The law is homophobic. It is a law of hatred," says Bozhankov.

According to him, Borisov is a populist and thinks only of the upcoming elections.

In the heated debate on the law, Borissov declared: "If Euro-Atlanticism means that it will make me a woman, then I give you this title: 'I am not a Euro-Atlanticist.'

Will Brussels react?

Member of the European Parliament Radan Kanev of the conservative Democratic Bulgarian Party (DB), which along with the PP was the only one to vote against the law in the Bulgarian parliament, wrote on Facebook that he is asking the European Commission, the European Parliament and the European People's Party to condemn the anti-LGBTQ the law.

But the EU Commission is still silent. According to observers, this is because two parties from party groups that supported the second term of Commission President Ursula von der Leyen also voted for the law.

In a statement to DV, Bulgarian MP Bozhankov warns:

"The Olympic Games in Paris showed that Russian news and propaganda channels intensively promote the thesis of a morally degenerate West and spread homophobia." And the European Union, he says, should become aware of the fact that the Bulgarians, for historical, cultural and geographical reasons, are especially vulnerable to Russian propaganda.

On the road to illiberal democracy?

Daniel Smilov fears that after the early parliamentary elections in October, a populist majority may emerge in the parliament in Sofia, which will turn Bulgaria into an "illiberal democracy" on the model of Hungary and cut the country off from the EU and NATO.

Bozhankov also shares that opinion: "It is clear why those people pushed through such a law. And if we do not oppose them, tomorrow they will pass laws not only about "traditional sexuality", but also about traditional skin color or nationality. It is a path that Europe knows very well and knows how it ends."

Source: Deutsche Welle/ Author: Alexander Andreev