Reacting to a parliamentary vote rejecting amendments to Bulgarian law which would have criminalized the provision of gender-affirming healthcare for minors, Nayden Rashkov, Amnesty International Bulgaria’s Director, said:
“It is a huge relief that this attempt to impose draconian fines and even prison sentences on healthcare professionals who provide gender-affirming healthcare to trans and intersex children under the age of 18 has been rejected. If passed, these amendments to the Child Protection Act would have put Bulgaria in the ignominious position of being the first EU member state to criminalize this type of healthcare.
“Voting down these proposed amendments was the only option available to MPs to ensure that Bulgaria was not in violation of international human rights law and standards. However, the fact that they were debated at all illustrates the increasingly toxic environment for for Bulgaria’s LGBTI+ community, still reeling from the recent passing of legal provisions prohibiting ‘LGBTI propaganda’.
“The homophobic and transphobic amendments passed last month were a direct assault on the LGBTI+ community, worsening an already hostile environment. LGBTI+ activists in Bulgaria, and those working to support them, face regular attacks and harassment by public authorities, politicians and private individuals. It is vital to stem the rising tide of hate, end the spread of disinformation and ensure adequate protection and support for this community.”
Background
The proposed amendments to the Child Protection Act would have provided for draconian fines, prison sentences and public censure to “whoever gives a medical prescription or commits a medical activity with methods and technologies for changing the biological sex of a person under the age of 18”. It would also have banned the advertising of these medical activities as well as the sharing of “information or other materials with content contrary to the understanding of the sex of natural persons as being a biological category” from “other public spaces, visited by children outside of school hours”.
The so-called anti-LGBTI propaganda law (amendments to the Law for Pre-School and School Education) was adopted on 7 August.
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