On July 28, the parliament in Bulgaria adopted several amendments to its Penal Code that increase protections against hate crimes motivated by a victim’s sexual orientation. This is the first time that Bulgaria has legislated in favour of LGBTQ+ rights in 20 years.

Introduced by the We Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria coalition, the amendments establish that in the case of premeditated murder committed on the basis of homophobic or racist motives, sentences should entail 15 to 20 years of imprisonment, life imprisonment or life imprisonment without parole.

The amended Penal Code now also increases punishments for perpetrators of bodily injury, kidnapping or illegal imprisonment who acted based on prejudice against the victim’s sexual orientation.

Moreover, with the new amendments, incitement to hatred based on skin colour, national origin and sexual orientation through the media and online is now a crime punishable by one to four years in prison and a fine of 5,000 to 10,000 leva.

The amendments also introduced imprisonment as a punishment for assault, destruction of property, attacks by organised mobs on the basis of homophobia or racism, as well as in cases where someone was prevented from being employed or forced to leave employment on homophobic grounds.

All Out joined Sofia Pride to support their petition demanding that the government protect LGBT+ people from hate crimes!

The All Out Love Dove flew alongside the Pride March in solidarity with LGBT+ folks in Bulgaria.

Sign their petition now ?https://t.co/DmpaGHtz8V pic.twitter.com/rMFA9hPExp

— All Out (@AllOut) June 21, 2023

The new protections against hate crimes are the first significant legislative change in favour of the LGBTQ+ community introduced in Bulgaria since 2004, when the Law on Protection from Discrimination was passed. In the recent Rainbow Europe review published by ILGA-Europe, which ranks a total of 49 European countries on the basis of their legal and policy situation in regard to LGBTQ+ rights, Bulgaria placed 40th. With a score of only 19.86%, it makes Bulgaria one of the worst countries in the continent for the protection of LGBTQ+ people’s rights.

In a statement published online, the GLAS (Gays and Lesbians Accepted in Society) Foundation welcomed the new amendments, saying that they only became possible thanks to the tireless efforts of LGBTQ+ campaigners and pressure from EU institutions.

“Sofia Pride also insisted on this change since its first edition in 2008 – the year in which the student Mihail Stoyanov was murdered in Borissova Gradina with openly homophobic motives,” the foundation added.

“This is the most tragic case of a hate crime based on an alleged sexual orientation. The investigation and sentencing would have been different had the changes approved today been in place.”

Prior to these changes, Bulgaria was one of the few countries in Europe that did not have appropriate hate crimes and hate speech legislation. Ireland is among the nations that are yet to implement such legislation, with the Incitement to Violence or Hatred and Hate Offences Bill 2022, which was published last October, not progressing further in its legislative process until later this year.