Bulgarian Ban on LGBTQ ‘Propaganda’ Echos Russia: Activists

Bulgaria’s parliament introduced changes to its education law on Wednesday banning what it calls LGBTQ propaganda in schools, a move slammed by campaign groups.
The Pre-school and School Education Act now prohibits “propaganda, promotion and incitement in any way, directly or indirectly, of ideas and views related to non-traditional sexual orientation and/or the determination of gender identity other than biological.” The text doesn’t provide further details.
Kostadin Kostadinov said he was happy with the legislation which his nationalist Revival Party drafted, telling reporters in the capital, Sofia “this propaganda is not humane and is not accepted in Bulgaria.” 
The amendment was passed in just one session by 159 votes to 22 in the 240-seat strong parliament, with 13 abstentions. Hundreds of people protested outside the building for a second day on Thursday, carrying posters bearing slogans such as “my life is a fact, not propaganda.” 
Campaign groups criticized what they said was an attack on children’s rights that panders to far-right voters and political parties aligned with Russia, which has progressively cracked down on its LGBTQ community and introduced similar legislation in 2012. 
The Revival Party and supporters of the amendment “claim that this is to protect young people,” said Chaber, Executive Director of Brussels-based ILGA-Europe, an independent, non-governmental organization uniting over 700 organizations from across Europe and central Asia. “However, the truth is that this is an attack on the rights of children, particularly LGBTI children.”
“Given the extremely fast-tracked procedure for this law, its clear political aim is to scapegoat LGBTI people and legislate against their human rights,” Chaber added.
Bulgaria has been mired in political instability since anti-graft protests in 2020. After the collapse of talks aimed at forging a ruling coalition earlier this month, the Balkan country is now facing its seventh general election in 3.5 years, probably in October.
Bulgaria joined the European Union in 2007. But the chaos has slowed the country’s progress toward adopting the euro currency and accessing EU funds. It has also helped boost pro-Russian populists skeptical of further integration — including the Revival Party, which has rarely had such success in pushing through a proposal.
A spokesperson for the European Commission declined to comment on the legislation, saying only “we have a clear stance on discrimination and we stand for the union where you can be who you are.” The Commission is challenging a similar law passed in Hungary in 2021.
During the parliamentary debate, Sofia-based LGBTQ rights group Deystvie said that “deputies used hate speech and wholly discriminatory statements that tend to undermine the foundations of democracy and the rule of law.” 
Deystvie’s chairperson, Denitsa Lyubenova, called the law “absurd.” 
It is “absolutely borrowed from the Russian legislation before it eventually declared the LGBT movement as extremist,” Lyubenova said. “What the Bulgarian parliament approved could well be just the beginning of a repressive policy against various minority groups in Bulgaria.”
Russian-style laws are being copied by other countries seeking to put controls on civil society:
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