Europa finanziert LGBT Demos, mit dummen Frauen, nach neuen ANTI LGBT Gesetzen in Bulgarien

 

Bulgarians Hold Rival Rallies After President Approves Anti-LGBTQ+ Law Change

Alex Stoyanov (left) and Nio Kralev chant during a protest outside the presidential palace in Sofia, Bulgaria on Thursday, Aug 16, 2024, after the country’s president, Rumen Radev, made public a ban on the promotion of LGBTQIA+ "propaganda" in schools. Photographer: Michaela Vatcheva

Svetoslav Todorov

Sofia

BIRN

August 16, 202412:55

Protesters in Sofia staged a new demonstration against a legal amendment banning “propaganda” for LGBTQ+ issues in schools - but Bulgarian nationalists held a counter-demonstration, demanding even harsher measures

Rival protests were held in central Sofia on Thursday after President Rumen Radev endorsed a legislative amendment banning LGBTQ+ “propaganda” and “gender ideology” in schools, in a stark demonstration of Bulgaria’s deep political polarisation.

Up to 2,000 people protested against the measure, facing off against roughly 500 supporters on the other side of Independence Boulevard. Lines of police stood between them.

Protesters gather outside the presidential palace in Sofia, Bulgaria on Thursday. Photo: Michaela Vatcheva

The amendment, which echoes a similar ban in Russia, was filed by the far-right, pro-Moscow Revival party. On Monday, a request was submitted to the presidency signed by more than 6,000 people and over 70 organisations, calling on Radev to veto the amendment. Rejecting the call, he signed the amendment into law.

The larger protest included several MPs from the reformist alliance of We Continue the Change and Democratic Bulgaria, which have been criticised after many of their lawmakers did not vote on the amendment during its first reading; others abstained at the second and final reading.

Over six thousand people and over seventy organisations filed on Monday a request for the President to drop the law.

Trans rights activist Gabriella Bankova attends the protest in Sofia. Bankova went on a 12-day hunger strike in 2023 to be able to officially change her gender. Photo: Michaela Vatcheva

Members of the transgender community, which saw its rights limited by a controversial Supreme Court ruling in 2023.

The same year was marked by the hunger strike initiated by trans woman Gabriella Bankova in front of Sofia’s Judicial Palace.

Local artists including People of Maha and Vick entertained the crowd.

A counter-protest gathers outside the National Assembly in Sofia on Thursday. Photograph: Michaela Vatcheva

On the other side of the boulevard, Revival supporters claimed to know of private schools promoting so-called ‘gender ideology’. Some said they were worried that Bulgaria would end up legalising paedophilia. Several denied being homophobic but said they were against the kind of values and policies they see as coming from the West.

They were hopeful that a ‘foreign agents’ law, again modelled on Russia, would soon be adopted, taking aim at media outlets and NGOs that receive funding from outside Bulgaria.

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The LGBTQ+ “propaganda” amendment passed in parliament with the support of pro-Russian factions as well as GERB and its allies in the Movement for Rights and Freedoms, two parties that are, on paper at least, committed to Bulgaria’s European alignment.

People from Maha perform during a protest outside the presidential palace in Sofia. Photo: Michaela Vatcheva

Protests against the amendment were also seen in Varna, as well as among Bulgarians living in London, Berlin and The Hague.

On Thursday, more than 500 teachers and academics signed an open letter criticising the amendment for “introducing sanctions for a non-existing problem”.

“The legal amendments will not only create legal conflicts but impose a disturbing atmosphere of self-censorship,” they said. 

 

https://balkaninsight.com/2024/08/16/bulgarians-hold-rival-rallies-after-president-approves-anti-lgbtq-law-change/