(LifeSiteNews) — On August 7, the Parliament of Bulgaria passed an amendment to the Law for Preschool and School Education banning LGBT “propaganda” in schools by a massive majority of 159 votes in favour to 22 opposed, with 12 abstentions.
The amendment was posed by the Vazrazhdane (Revival) Party and gained widespread support from political parties across the spectrum, with MPs citing inappropriate sex education brochures and books being provided to both children and teens.
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The amendment bans “propaganda, promotion or incitement in any way, directly or indirectly, in the education system of ideas and views related to non-traditional sexual orientation and/or gender identity other than the biological one.” Parliamentarians also voted on text that specifically defines “non-traditional sexual orientation” as “different from the generally accepted and established notions in the Bulgarian legal tradition of emotional, romantic, sexual or sensual attraction between persons of opposite sexes.”
Kornelia Ninova, leader of the Socialist Party, stated that expatriate Bulgarian families had reached out to her to warn her about the influence of “gender ideology,” which she stated is “creeping into and taking over Bulgarian schools” as well as European society more generally, citing the blasphemous “transgender” spectacle during the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Paris as well as the recent winner of the Eurovision Song Contest Nemo Mettler, who identifies as “non-binary.”
Ninova also stated that gender ideology is being pushed by people who identify as “one thing in the morning, a second in the afternoon, a third in the evening,” and stated unequivocally: “I’ll repeat what I’ve been saying for seven years now: hands off Bulgarian children.” Zvezdelina Karavelova of the Vazrazhdane Party concurred, stating in a speech that the sexualization of children and “pederasty” needed to be confronted, adding that she hoped her son, who is currently 1 year old, will marry a woman one day rather than a man. Bulgaria only recognizes natural marriage in law.
In response, a few protestors came out in the capital of Sofia Wednesday afternoon to accuse parliamentarians of driving LGBT-identifying people out of Bulgaria, chanting “Shame on you!” and “Stop chasing people out of Bulgaria!” The protest was organized by feminist and pro-LGBT leftwing activist group LevFem, which told media outlets: “The restriction on even talking about the topic in school limits chances to oppose the violence and harassment that LGBTI+ students experience.”
Other LGBT groups pushed back, as well. The Bulgarian Helsinki Committee, an NGO, had lobbied parliamentarians to reject the amendment, claiming that it was a violation of “basic human rights,” the Bulgarian constitution, and EU law. According to the pro-LGBT group Deystvie, the amendment – which only addresses the teaching of LGBT propaganda in schools, something that is occurring in every Western country – “implicitly foreshadows a witch hunt and sanctions any educational efforts related to LGBTQ people in school education.” The group also predictably claimed that the amendment is “discriminatory.”
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LGBT groups have also been angry that Bulgaria has refused to ratify the Istanbul Convention on preventing and combatting violence against women due to widespread suspicion among many Bulgarian politicians that it is an attempt to smuggle in recognition for a “third gender.” LGBT groups have proven very successful at changing laws in sovereign nations by inserting vague terminology into U.N. and EU treaties.
Several media outlets, including Le Monde, attempted to tie the passage of the amendment to Russian influences, despite the fact that it passed overwhelmingly with support from all political parties, even those heavily in support of the European Union.
