site.btaParliament Rejects Proposed Bills to Amend Child Protection Act

Parliament Thursday rejected bills for amendment and supplementation of the Child Protection Act, which were discussed at the first reading. Four of the bills were sponsored by MPs from Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB), and the fifth was sponsored by There Is Such a People (TISP) floor leader Toshko Yordanov and TISP MPs. 

TISP's bill was rejected with 79 votes in favour, 112 against and five abstentions.  It proposed a ban on the distribution and presentation of information, or other materials with content that does not correspond to the understanding of gender of individuals as a biological category, on the territory of pre-school and school establishments, and in other public places frequented by children. It also proposed to prohibit the presentation to children of lectures with content that does not correspond to the understanding of the sex of individuals as a biological category, the presentation or advertising of gender identity as an alternative to biological sex, its early determination, and the application, presentation or advertising of medical activities with methods or technologies to change the biological sex of children.

MPs did not support the other four bills proposed by CC-DB. Two of them were submitted by Bozhidar Bozhanov, one by Elisaveta Belobradova and the fourth one by Katya Paneva. The bill, sponsored by Elisaveta Belobradova, which proposed introducing the concept of "common sense" or children not being used for political activities, was rejected with zero votes in favour, 158 against and 31 abstentions. A re-vote was requested and the proposal was rejected by one vote in favour, 154 against and 30 abstentions.