Bulgaria
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Eastern Europe
Gender change illegal in Bulgaria, says Supreme Court
Bulgarian transgender people may not change their gender. That is what the civil panel of the Bulgarian Supreme Court ruled this week. According to the panel, Bulgarian law does not allow the procedure. “The current law does not provide the possibility for courts to change data regarding sex, name and…
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Eastern Europe
Bulgarian Church recognises autonomy of Macedonian Orthodox Church
The Bulgarian Orthodox Church formally recognised the independence of the Macedonian Orthodox Church (MOC). On December 13, the Holy Synod of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church “accepted with spiritual joy” the Tomos of autocephaly given to the MOC, reports the Orthodox news portal Orthodox Christianity. The Synod of the Bulgarian Church…
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Southern Europe
Bulgaria condemned for campaign against Protestants
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) condemned Bulgaria for a campaign against Evangelical Christians on Tuesday. In 2008, the Burgas city council sent a letter to schools warning against Protestant groups. These allegedly seduce people resulting in psychological damage, act against Bulgarian law, and divide the people by not…
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Eastern Europe
Bulgarian diocese organises petition against cremation
A diocese of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church is taking a stand against the un-Orthodox practice of cremation. Website Orthodox Christianity reports on this. A message on the official website of the Metropolis of Plovdiv, Bulgaria's second-largest city, states: “The Holy Metropolis of Plovdiv is organising in Plovdiv churches a petition…
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Eastern Europe
Bulgarian pastors to European court over smear campaign
Two ministers from the Bulgarian town of Burgas have gone to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) over a scaremongering campaign by the local authorities to label all non-Eastern Orthodox Christians as dangerous sects. The court in Strasbourg, France, has decided to hear the case. In 2008 the City…
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European Union
EU country must accept parental rights of gay couples, court says
Every EU member state must accept the parental rights of gay couples that have received a child in another country. Even if that member state reserves marriage for man and woman. The European Court of Justice (Luxembourg) has ruled that, according to the Dutch Reformatorisch Dagblad. The court had to…
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Eastern Europe
Court in Bulgaria concludes: only biological sex, no gender
Regarding the Bulgarian constitution, the word “gender” can only refer to biological sex. Ratification of the human rights treaty against domestic violence (known as the so-called Istanbul Convention) would be anti-constitutional. That was the long-awaited interpretative decision, last week, of the Bulgarian Constitutional Court. The Court ruled on October 26th…