The Bulgarian parliament passed an amendment on August 7 to ban LGBT "propaganda" in schools and voted to pass a separate change that defines the concept of "nontraditional sexual orientation."
The amendment to the Law on Preschool and School Education -- proposed by the pro-Russian Revival (Vazrazhdane) party -- passed 159-20 with 10 abstentions.
It bans the "propaganda, promotion, or incitement in any way, directly or indirectly, in the education system of ideas and views related to nontraditional sexual orientation and/or gender identity other than the biological one."
Lawmakers also voted on a separate text that defines "nontraditional 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."
The text also passed but with a smaller majority.
The main arguments for the changes were that they reflect the spirit of Bulgaria’s constitution, which stipulates that marriage is only between a man and a woman, and Orthodox values.
SEE ALSO: A Bulgarian Trans Woman Is On Hunger Strike And Says She Won't Stop Until Her Gender Is RecognizedMost of the criticism of the changes centered on the term "nontraditional sexual orientation," which matches part of the definition of sexual orientation in Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia.
"When we take texts from Wikipedia to make laws, it is not right-wing-oriented, it is not conservatively oriented, and it is not protection of Bulgarian children, it is cheap populism," said Elisaveta Belobradova of the reformist We Continue the Change/Democratic Bulgaria (PP-DB).
Her colleague from the center-right GERB party, Georgi Georgiev, said that by adopting a definition of "nontraditional sexual orientation," the deputies set an "unheard-of precedent" in the legal system of an EU member state. The text is discriminatory and contradicts the European Convention on Human Rights, he said.
Demonstrators took to the streets of Sofia after the amendment and text were adopted. People chanted "Shame on you" and "Stop chasing people out of Bulgaria."
LevFem, the left-wing feminist group that organized the rally, said the amendment would make it impossible to combat the harassment in school of young lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people.
The Bulgarian Helsinki Committee, a rights NGO, had urged lawmakers not to pass the changes, saying they "breach basic human rights," including those enshrined in the Bulgarian Constitution as well as EU laws and international conventions.
Denitsa Lyubenova, a lawyer for Deystvie, an LGBT rights group in Bulgaria, said in a statement that the amendment "implicitly foreshadows a witch-hunt and sanctions any educational efforts related to LGBTQ people in school."