Bulgaria

Categories Score

The full bar chart stands for 100%, and is filled by the country category score. The colour display uses the traffic light palette, with Green representing a score closer to 100% and Red a score closer to 0%.

ASYLUM

This category looks into laws that expressly include SOGISC as a qualification criteria for seeking asylum. We also take into account other legislation, policies, instruction or positive measures by state actors that are related to asylum addressing the needs and rights of LGBTI asylum seekers and refugees.

Civil Society Space

This category is about laws, policies and practices that allow for full exercise of freedom of assembly, association and expression for LGBTI people.

Intersex Bodily Integrity

The criteria under this category covers prohibition of any kind of surgical or medical intervention on an intersex minor before child is able to give informed consent. We additionally take into account if this prohibition is universal to all persons, establishes a monitoring mechanism and provides access to justice for victims and reparations.

Legal Gender Recognition

The category looks at laws and policies that ensure legal gender recognition for trans, non-binary and intersex people and the requirements and preconditions to access these procedures.

Hate Crime & Hate Speech

We look into laws that include sexual orientation, gender identity and sex characteristics in the hate crime and hate speech legislation as an aggravating factor. The category also takes into account the recurrent and continuing policies tackling hatred.

Equality & Non Discrimination

This category looks into effective anti-discrimination legislation that explicitly includes sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression and sex characteristics. We also take into consideration laws and policies banning conversion practices and allowing LGBTI people to donate blood. In addition to legislation, we look into effectively working equality bodies and well-implemented action plans.

Family

This category looks into recognition and protection of LGBTI people’s family rights with consideration of laws on marriage equality, registered partnership, adoption, medically assisted insemination, and trans parenthood.

Criteria Compliance Ratio

Each pie charts stands for a category and is divided in slices by criteria. When a country complies with a criteria – fully or in some regions – the slice is coloured.

Keep in mind the criteria have different weighting factor within a category; for example, the criteria Prohibition of medical intervention without informed consent (intersex) stands for half (2.5%) of the INTERSEX BODILY INTEGRITY category weighting factor (5%). Meaning that even if a country can only comply with this specific criteria within the category (1/4 total criteria) the category scores 50%.

More information on the categories and criteria weighting factors here.

Category & Criteria Table

The table lists detailed information and insights on legislation supporting each criterion status. Please use the filters for in-depth analysis.

n/a = not applicable, meaning the criteria didn’t exist in the previous Rainbow Map edition (PROGRESSION column)

  • Complies
  • Applicable in some regions only
  • Does not Comply
Category
Criteria
Status
Change since 2023
Name of Law / Documents / Institution
Date of Adoption
Date of Coming into Effect
Specific Article of Reference
Additional Information

RECOMMENDATIONS

In order to improve the legal and policy situation of LGBTI people in Bulgaria, ILGA-Europe recommend:

  • Adopting registered partnership for same-sex couples and allowing for automatic co-parent recognition for all couples, so that children born to couples, regardless of the partners’ sexual orientation and/or gender identity, do not face any barriers in order to be recognised legally from birth to their parents.
  • Introducing hate crime and hate speech laws that explicitly cover all bias-motivated crimes based on sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, and sex characteristics.
  • Adopting a fair, transparent legal framework based on administrative measures for legal gender recognition based on a process of self-determination and free from abusive requirements (such as sterilisation, GID/medical diagnosis, or surgical/medical intervention).

Annual Review of Bulgaria

In our Annual Review of the Human Rights Situation of LGBTI People in Europe and Central Asia, we examine the advances made and provide concrete examples of on-the-ground situations at national level country-by-country in the 12 months from January to December 2023.

Read our Annual Review of Bulgaria below for more details and stories behind the Rainbow Map. You can also download the Annual Review chapter (.pdf) covering Bulgaria.

The full Annual Review for 2024 is available here.

Country Score Evolution

Year

See also

Article

Interview with Denitsa Lyubenova: Bulgaria’s LGBTI crisis and what the international community can do to help

Read in ILGA Europe's website
Article

Bulgaria passes anti-LGBTI propaganda law

Read in ILGA Europe's website
Article

Joint Statement: European Court confirms requirement for legal gender recognition in Bulgaria despite rejected complaint

Read in ILGA Europe's website
Report

Our submission to the EC 2024 Rule of Law report

Read in ILGA Europe's website
Article

Bulgaria’s Supreme Court Rejects Baby Sara’s Bulgarian Citizenship

Read in ILGA Europe's website
Report

Our submission to the EC 2023 Rule of Law report

Read in ILGA Europe's website
Article

#IESofia2022: Daily Report, Saturday October 22

Read in ILGA Europe's website
Report

Meet Simeon from the Bulgarian organisation, GLAS Foundation, co-host of our Annual Conference

Read in ILGA Europe's website
Report

Meet Denitsa from the Bulgarian organisation Deystvie, co-host of our Annual Conference

Read in ILGA Europe's website
Article

Meet Lilly from Bilitis in Sofia, co-host of ILGA-Europe’s Annual Conference

Read in ILGA Europe's website
Article

Theme for the ILGA-Europe 2022 Conference Announced.

Read in ILGA Europe's website
Article

Bulgarian Court Rules Baby Sara Must Be Issued Birth Certificate

Read in ILGA Europe's website
Article

How Baby Sara and her mums have pushed forward the rights of all rainbow families across the EU

Read in ILGA Europe's website
Report

Judgment in Case Stolichna obshtina, rayon ‘Pancharevo’

Read in ILGA Europe's website
Article

Top EU Court Recognises Relationship of Same-sex Parents and their Children Under EU Law

Read in ILGA Europe's website
Article

The stark situation for LGBTI rights in Eastern Europe and Central Asia

Read in ILGA Europe's website
Media

Rainbow Family Rights in Europe – Part 2: Baby Sara, Stateless Child

Read in ILGA Europe's website
Article

European Court must rule in favour of a child at risk of statelessness and her family’s freedom of movement in the EU, say leading LGBTI rights organisations

Read in ILGA Europe's website
Article

“If You Are Parent in One Country, You Are Parent in Every Country”: But still today a child can be stateless in the EU just because it has two mothers

Read in ILGA Europe's website
Media

The Frontline: Bulgaria and the Spread of European Anti-LGBTI Populism

Read in ILGA Europe's website
Article

Be Yourself – new video by Single Step

Read in ILGA Europe's website
Report

Y.T. v. Bulgaria

Read in ILGA Europe's website
Report

Equality for lesbians and gay men- a relevant issue in EU accession process

Read in ILGA Europe's website