Enhancing the Capacity of the LGBTI Movement in Bulgaria for Assessment and Raising Awareness on the Broader Social Impact of anti-LGBTI Policies

ongoing

"The Ripple Effect project unites 4 LGBTI organizations from Bulgaria, working in the main cities of Sofia, Plovdiv, and Varna, to address the shrinking civic space for LGBTI rights defenders. The project will enhance the capacity of the partners to monitor anti-LGBTI political rhetoric that incubates laws restricting their work and assess the broader social impact of such developments. It will also demonstrate to the general public that respect for LGBTI people's rights and their visibility is the ""litmus test"" for democracy in an EU member state. The methodology involves a sequence of steps, which include assessing the social impact of the recent anti-LGBTI ""propaganda"" law, adopted in August 2024, drawing conclusions and policy recommendations, which will inform awareness-raising activities and advocacy for repealing the law. Even if the ""anti-LGBTI propaganda in education"" law is revoked in Bulgaria in the next few months, it sets a precedent that should keep civil society on the alert. The project will foster defragmentation in the human rights field, improve value-based collaboration between different types of civic organizations, local and national authorities, and educational institutions, and mainstream the narrative that warns against breaches of rights and freedoms. Ultimately, the project will strengthen the link between LGBTI rights organizations and citizens as voters, who determine the course of development of their state. The awareness-raising activities are expected to reach directly 50,000 people from the movable middle. The project stimulates the practical application of new capacities by LGBTI activists in real-life research settings. It will also disseminate the methodology and results during the ILGA-Europe annual conference 2027 to encourage replication in other EU member states, especially in countries of Eastern Europe that face similar trends of democracy backsliding, populism, and legal obstacles for LGBTI rights defenders' work."