The Istanbul Convention introduces a 3rd Social Gender

“Yesterday, the European Parliament supported the Istanbul Convention. From the Bulgarian Socialist Party, in the 4th consecutive National Assembly, we are introducing a Law on Combating Domestic Violence, but behind the scene of this noble cause, the Istanbul Convention introduces a third social gender, different from the biological male or female, into European legislation.” said BSP leader Kornelia Ninova from the parliamentary rostrum.

According to her, the EP ratified the convention, which means that it becomes a Union obligation and European law, which stands above national law.

“The Court of the EU in 2021 confirmed that the EU can ratify the convention without the member states having confirmed it unanimously. 6 countries are against it. The EU Council asked the EP to accept the decision and yesterday it was accepted by an overwhelming majority. Yesterday, Bulgarian MEPs from all parliamentary groups voted ‘for’. Yesterday Sergey Stanishev and Elena Yoncheva voted ‘for’, and the other colleagues from BSP were silent. For these people, ours and yours, there is no Constitution of Bulgaria and decisions of the Constitutional Court. It does not matter to them the opinion of 80% of Bulgarian citizens and religions. There is no national sovereignty,” added Kornelia Ninova.

She called for support for the referendum on banning gender ideology in schools. “Your signature today is an investment in the life and future of the children and of Bulgaria“, emphasized Ninova.

“Tomorrow, Stanishev is organizing a conference on the modern left. This is not a modern left. This is their left-gender ideology. For us, the modern left is something else – workers’ rights, ecology, a healthy lifestyle. For us, these are progressive topics. For them gender is progressive left. And that is why this is an attack on BSP. And this fight is part of BSP‘s downfall during elections. You don’t know how strong is this external pressure. BSP is the only party which is against this, from start to finish, for 6 years, but this is not a party issue, but a national cause, the future of our children,” said Kornelia Ninova.

Convention on Gender Violence Draws Backlash in Bulgaria

Moves to ratify the so-called Istanbul Convention of the Council of Europe are encountering strong opposition both from parties in the Bulgarian government and the opposition.

Members of the Bulgarian government and of the main opposition Socialist Party have joined forces to oppose the government’s decision to pass the so-called Istanbul Convention on gender-based violence to parliament for ratification.

The cabinet approved a national program for prevention of domestic violence on Wednesday, and, as a part of it, advised MPs to ratify the Council of Europe’s convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, which was adopted in Istanbul in 2011. Following the government session, however, the Deputy Prime Minister in charge of social and economic policies, Valeri Simeonov, from the nationalist United Patriots, told the media that eight of the 21 ministers had voted against the document.

“Not only the United Patriots [who have four ministers] but eight ministers voted against,” he said. The names of the ministers who opposed the convention will be revealed on Friday, when the minutes of the cabinet meeting are published. The plan to pass the Convention, which Bulgaria signed in April 2016, for ratification in parliament, drew sharp criticism especially from one of the parties from the United Patriots Coalition, VMRO.

On December 28, the party, led by the Minister of Defence and Deputy Prime Minister, Krasimir Karakachanov, published a statement which claimed that, through the convention, “international lobbies are pushing Bulgaria to legalize the ‘third gender’.

The party declared itself firmly against the document, which it accused of “introducing school programs for studying homosexuality and transvestism and creating opportunities for enforcing same-sex marriages”. Over 30 civil and religious organizations had sent an open letter to Karakachanov, urging him not to allow ratification of the convention. As a result, he said, he had given a negative opinion of what he called the “scandalous text”. What has most upset nationalists is mention of the term “gender” as a social construct as opposed to the biological “sex” in the text of the document, although the explanatory report to the convention notes: “The term ‘gender’ … is not intended as a replacement for the terms ‘women’ and ‘men.’”