site.btaVMRO Slams Plans for Sofia Pride Parade on June 8

117 POLITICS - PRIDE PARADE - VMRO - POSITION

VMRO Slams Plans for
Sofia Pride Parade
on June 8


Sofia, June 4 (BTA) - The nationalist party VMRO Tuesday slammed plans for a Pride Parade in Sofia on June 8 and said the Bulgarian capital "should not become an arena of gender propaganda". VMRO issued a press release on the matter. "Our nation was built on the values and principles of the traditional Christian family and we believe such an event should definitely not be held," VMRO said in a press release says.

"A family means only one thing: a mother, a father, and their children. There is no family of same-sex couples and there cannot be such a family. There is no change of gender and there cannot be such a change. Anyone who claims the opposite has missed their first classes in Biology," the text continues.

"Making a display of the deviation from normality by the people organizing the gay parade is their own problem. Their political claims, however, are our problem: of the entire Bulgarian society, of the State," VMRO states.

The party opposes firmly "all gay or gender propaganda in Bulgaria".

Sofia Pride was first organized in 2008 with the motto "Me and My Family". The organizers of the event say on their website that the pride in Bulgaria is "a challenge against the widespread stigma and hatred against LGBTI people on daily level, who get rejected by their families and friends, and are subject to hate crimes, school bullying, discrimination, lack of legal recognition of same-sex families and of legal gender recognition, and to the continuing practice of mutilating and 'normalizing' practices such as genital surgeries in cases of intersex conditions".

Sofia Pride is one of the few and the most well-known and visible public events that raise awareness of those issues. The pride sends an important message to all LGBTI Bulgarians, their families and friends: "you are not alone because we are many", the organizers say. This year's edition is mottoed "Don't Give Power to Hatred!".

Nationalist parties are outspoken opponents of the pride parade, as is the Bulgarian Orthodox Church. RY/TH

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