Several NGOs are calling for Brussels to intervene against the “anti-LGBT propaganda” law recently passed in Bulgaria. According to them, it goes against the fundamental values of the European Union.
Several Bulgarian and international NGOs are calling for Brussels to intervene after the Bulgarian parliament passed an “anti-LGBT propaganda” law in schools earlier this month. The law is intended to make it illegal to “promotion” of ideas and points of view “related to non-traditional sexual orientation and determination of gender identity other than biological”.
Bulgarian President Rumen Radev gave his approval to the bill on Thursday, despite denunciations from many human rights groups. Radoslav Stolnov, chairman of the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee, said that sooner or later the law would be repealed: “There is no chance that this law could work, for example, with the European Convention on Human Rights.”
Others believe that the decision of the deputies is a step in the right direction, like the lawyer Angel Buzalov of the Family Month association: “I am sure that more than 90% of Bulgarians who sent these deputies support this law and I would say that even people who voted for some of the parties that did not support this law also support it.”
Velichka Tasedzhikova, headmistress of the 70 St. Kliment Ohridski primary school, believes that the law is unnecessary: “This is an extremely sensitive subject that touches on the fields of medicine and certain societal attitudes and has no place in a special law. The law on preschool and school education regulates certain social relations that are on a different level.”
Several organisations are urging Brussels to swiftly launch infringement proceedings against Sofia for what they consider to be a violation of the fundamental values of the European Union.