LGBTQI activists in Bulgaria win harassment lawsuit against nationalist party

LGBTQI activists in Bulgaria win harassment lawsuit against nationalist party | INFBusiness.com

Bulgaria’s nationalist VMRO was found to have harassed the LGBTQI community in one of its Facebook statuses, with an administrative court ruling condemning the act of discrimination based on sexual orientation.

The court went against an earlier decision by the Commission for Protection from Discrimination, which ruled in favour of VMRO, meaning the nationalist party can now take its case before the Supreme Administrative Court.

“Stigmatising people because of their sexual orientation, instilling intolerance and hostility towards groups of people, degrading human dignity, cannot be justified and qualified as ‘free speech’, which it is not,” the court said in its decision.

“It is unacceptable to use the right of free expression as a screen for spreading ideas and concepts that humiliate the person, create intolerance and intolerance towards certain groups of people”, it added.

Following a statement published on VMRO’s Facebook page about the film “Snake”, broadcast on  6 June 2021 as part of the “Sofia Pride Film Fest” selection, Youth LGBT Organisation Action brought a case before the discrimination commission.

Shortly before that, VMRO was part of the ruling coalition with Boyko Borissov’s GERB party and was preparing for the elections.

In their submission, Youth LGBT Organisation Action claimed that VMRO presented LGBTQI people as “immoral individuals” and “paedophiles” whose aim was to erase “all foundations of traditional European and Christian values”. This contributes to creating a hostile, offensive and threatening environment towards the community, the group added.

Meanwhile, with elections on the horizon, public interest in the VMRO, which now has around 38,000 followers on Facebook, is growing. Its controversial Facebook post has been shared about 30 times, and comments on it show that it has created a hostile, offensive and threatening environment in society.

VMRO, however, claims that the LGBTQ+ organisation’s complaint is groundless and should be disregarded by the court.

VMRO argues that its Facebook post was ultimately aimed at presenting reasons in support of the Christian values expressed in the traditional Bulgarian family of mother, father and child and to protect children, who are at the centre of the entire Bulgarian value system, from the customs that have preserved the nation for more than a millennium.

However, while the Discrimination Procession Commission said the statement reflected a personal opinion that in no way constituted hatred or aggression towards LGBTQI people, the court found that while the fundamental right to free expression is quite wide-reaching, it has limits and cannot be used to harm the rights and good name of another. It also noted that the statement was the opinion of the party rather than a personal one.

The publication suggests that regardless of their personal qualities, education, upbringing, morals and ethics, because of their sexual orientation, all these people are perverted, prone to corruption, including towards children, and share perverted concepts, the judge adds.

According to the court, such statements expressed publicly and on behalf of a political entity undoubtedly humiliate and harm the human dignity of people who define themselves as homo, bi, trans or intersex, as it creates an image of them in society that motivates hatred and disregard.

The same LGBTQI organisation also sued former punk star Milena Slavova for discrimination.

There, too, the commission rejected the appeal, but the administrative court overturned its decision. In the end, however, the Supreme Court ruled in favour of Milena. In the case of VMRO, the outcome is pending.

(Krassen Nikolov | Euractiv.bg)

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