Those of you who have been reading my blog for a long enough time probably remember the unique Article 14 of the Regulation on Public Order in the Bulgarian town of Pazardzhik prohibiting “the demonstration and expression of sexual or other orientation in public places”. For those of you who are newer here or have forgotten the story, here is the ( Read more... )

Guess with what, the Pazardzhik homophobic "saga" again"! This time it is His Eminence the Metropolitan of Plovdiv and his special awards for homophobia (see my previous entry).

http://joemygod.blogspot.com/2010/09/bulgaria-orthodox-bishop-hands-out.html

And while I'm still at it, here is a report of the story in English in a Bulgarian news outlet ( ( Read more... )

So, 6 September is a national holiday in Bulgaria - the day of the Union of the Bulgarian Principality and the province of Eastern Rumelia, the two parts that formed present post- Ottoman-Empire Bulgaria.  But my post is not primarily about that.

Metropolitan Nikolay of Plovdiv chose this day to award Prosecutor Yanev for his amazing reflections on ( Read more... )

If you are a journalist, and don't want to make the gays and their friends laugh out loud while reading your absolutely serious article, you'd better proofread for involuntary puns with far-from-subtle homoerotic (or downright pornographic?) connotations.

It's about the next development of the case of the notorious Article 14 (yes, the one ( Read more... )

Part 8: The prosecutor who could write porn scripts (sex with animals included)

This is FOR REAL, folks. In a LEGAL DOCUMENT, no less! It was all over the Bulgarian media on 12 august. Ladies and gentlemen, meet Prosecutor Stefan Yanev, who is now the laughingstock of the Bulgarian gays and lesbians and their friends and allies on Facebook and the ( Read more... )

Yes, the Municipal Council of Pazardzhik Municipality (represented by its Chairman Georgi Yordanov) is going to appeal against the ruling of the Commission against Discrimination to the Supreme Administrative Court. But that's not all!

Mr. Yordanov now says that if the Supreme Administrative Court doesn't cancel the order to repeal that notorious  ( Read more... )

For those of you who have been following this case: finally there was a ruling of the Commission for Protection against Discrimination on 11 May! The Bulgarian “legalese” is too difficult for me to translate this time, so I’ll just give you the essence of the ruling (the translation is mine, with small abridgements here and there):

The Commission ( Read more... )

Specially for orlandoman , and anyone else who is interested in this case: Here is how the Municipal Council of Pazardzhik Municipality responded to Position of the Ombudsman of the Republic of Bulgaria on the notorious Article 14. I’m translating it as it is, and I admit I can’t make any sense of it myself. The Bulgarian original is here.

Today, on 30 March ( Read more... )

I’ve translated for you some excerpts from the Position of the Ombudsman of the Republic of Bulgaria on the Prohibition of “public demonstration and expression of sexual or other orientation”, envisaged in Art. 14 of the Regulation on Public Order in Pazardzhik Municipality (it’s an 11-page pdf file).

I know it may look boring, but in case you don’t ( Read more... )

So, since the “skinhead” boys got enough media attention already, both in Bulgaria and abroad, I’d better start with what the other side did. It wasn’t easy even for me to find out, and if I didn’t know some of the participants online it would be even more difficult. I did my best to piece it all together. The photos are all clickable. Here we go ( Read more... )