Bulgaria’s 2024 law banning LGBT+ topics in schools has left children isolated and unprotected. The EU’s highest court has ruled a similar law illegal. Bulgaria must repeal it and uphold the rule of law.
A 14-year-old in Sofia is being bullied at school for being gay. She goes to the school counsellor for help. But the counsellor can't talk to her – because in Bulgaria, a 2024 law makes even mentioning LGBT+ people in school a punishable act.
This is what the law does in practice. It silences teachers. It paralyses school counsellors. It strips anti-bullying programmes of the ability to address homophobia. And it tells an entire group of Bulgarian children that their existence is "propaganda."
On 7 August 2024, Bulgaria's parliament rushed through an amendment to the Preschool and School Education Act in a single day – both readings, almost no debate, almost no chance for civil society to respond. The law, proposed by the pro-Russian far-right Revival party, was modelled directly on legislation passed in Russia and Hungary.
But on 21 April 2026, the legal ground shifted completely.
Ruling on Hungary's near-identical law, the Court of Justice of the European Union – Europe's highest court – delivered a historic judgment. For the first time in EU history, the Court found that such laws breach human dignity itself, as guaranteed by the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. The Court ruled that laws which stigmatise LGBT+ people under the pretext of "child protection" violate the founding values of the European Union, set out in Article 2 of the Treaty on European Union.
This ruling is binding. It applies to every EU member state. Including Bulgaria.
Bulgaria's law is not just harmful – it is incompatible with EU law. The Court of Justice has spoken, and member states do not get to ignore its rulings.
This is where it gets uncomfortable. Bulgaria's new Prime Minister is Rumen Radev – the same Rumen Radev who, as President in 2024, refused to veto this law despite appeals from European institutions, human rights organisations, and Bulgarian civil society. He had the power to stop it then. He chose not to.
Now he leads the government, and his party holds a majority in the National Assembly. The question is no longer whether he agrees with the law. The question is whether Bulgaria will respect the rule of law and comply with a binding ruling of the EU's highest court.
Sign the petition. Tell Bulgaria's government that the rule of law is not optional – and neither is the safety of LGBT+ children.
This campaign is run by Deystvie and Single Step Foundation.
