News
2005-08-25
First national
gay festival in Bulgaria stirs angry reaction
The first
national gay festival in Bulgaria has opened in the port
city of Varna, organizers said Wednesday, but it me
The first
national gay festival in Bulgaria has opened in the port
city of Varna, organizers said Wednesday, but it met
with an angry reaction from the Orthodox Church and
the local community. "This is the first national
gathering of gay people in Bulgaria...and we wanted to
accompany it with a public awareness campaign," said
Desi Petrova of the Bulgarian Gay Organization Gemini.
"However, we were told to cut off public events, to
stay neatly closed indoors."
Gemini had initially planned to erect two
tents—dubbed "pink points"—in downtown
Varna to distribute information leaflets to passersby,
but Mayor Kiril Yordanov banned the initiative, saying it
could not be defined as a "cultural event" as required by law.
The mayor's decision followed a sharp reaction
against the gay festivities by the Orthodox Church,
which headed the protests of the local conservative
community. "Such public gatherings push young people
into low moral behavior and destroy Orthodox Christian
values," Metropolitan Kiril, the head of the Bulgarian
Orthodox Church in Varna, said. A conservative
committee called Orthodox Values threatened protest
demonstrations if the gay festival was allowed to go public.
Petrova said the festivities would go on as
planned in private clubs through August 27 but that
the Gemini would consider filing discrimination
suits against the leaders of the Orthodox Values
committee. Bulgarian legislation bans any discrimination
against gays, but they often face hostile attitudes
from the traditionally conservative society. (AP)
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