[3] Contrastingly, in 2024, Bulgaria's parliament prohibited the “propaganda, and promotion of non-traditional sexual orientation and/or gender identity other than the biological one”.

[4] Like most countries in Central and Eastern Europe, post-Communist Bulgaria holds socially conservative attitudes when it comes to such matters as homosexuality and transgender people.

Following the liberation of Bulgaria in 1878, the country's Penal Code came into force on 1 May 1896, and homosexual acts between males over 16 years of age became punishable by at least six months of imprisonment.

In 2017, a Bulgarian same-sex couple, who married in the United Kingdom, filed a lawsuit in order to have their marriage recognised.

[15] Citing Coman and Others v General Inspectorate for Immigration and Ministry of the Interior, a case originating from Romania in which the European Court of Justice ruled that same-sex couples must be granted full residency rights in all EU countries, a Sofia court granted a same-sex couple the right to live in Bulgaria on 29 June 2018.

The couple, an Australian woman and her French wife, had married in France in 2016, but were denied residency in Bulgaria a year later when they attempted to move there.

[17] In 2021 the European Court of Justice (ECJ) heard a case involving a baby born to a lesbian couple (one Bulgarian and the other a British citizen) in Spain.

Because the Bulgarian authorities refused to issue a birth certificate, the child was denied the benefits of European citizenship, became stateless, and has not been able to leave Spain.

[18][19] In December 2021, the ECJ ruled against Bulgaria in the case, finding that the country had to issue an ID card based on the parentage established by Spain so that the child could exercise her right to European citizenship.

[24] On 27 September 2020, children as young as 14 or 15 were assaulted in Plovdiv, as part of an anti-LGBT "cleansing action" apparently done by ultra fans of Botev.

[27][28][25] On 28 July 2023, the National Assembly adopted a Law on Amendments and Supplements to the Criminal Code, which provides for heavier penalties for crimes committed on the basis of the victim's sexual orientation.

[31] A 2015 Eurobarometer survey found that 29% of Bulgarians agreed with the statement that transgender people should be able to change their civil documents in order to match their actual gender identity.

[33] An interpretative decision published by the Bulgarian Supreme Court of Cassation on 20 February 2023 states that "the only meaning of the term sex should be its biological one", and that "the [Bulgarian] Constitution and the entire legal system are based on the binary existence of humankind", thus effectively prohibiting the change of legal gender on a biological basis.

[38] Balkan Insight noted that the bill passed largely because of the surprising backing of the country's largest pro-EU GERB party.

Support was higher among Orthodox Christians (19%) and 18–34 year olds (26%), in contrast to Muslims (12%) and people aged 35 and over (15%).

[51] The 2023 Eurobarometer found that 17% of Bulgarians thought same-sex marriage should be allowed throughout Europe, and 21% agreed that "there is nothing wrong in a sexual relationship between two persons of the same sex".

As this is still a highly controversial subject in Bulgaria, accurate data cannot be obtained due to the unwillingness of some or most persons who identify as LGBT to freely affirm themselves as such out of fear of public persecution, scrutiny or harassment.

In December 2018, billboards promoting tolerance towards same-sex couples, put up in various Bulgarian cities such as Varna and Burgas, were vandalised.

[55] The pride parades in the following years went on peacefully and started drawing more participants as well as the support of political parties, local businesses and embassies.

[60] National Resistance, a far-right group, has advocated using brooms and shovels to attack people at pride parades.

[62][63] Georgi Kadiev, the former Bulgarian Socialist Party mayoral candidate for Sofia, participated in support of the pride parade in 2011.

[63][65] There are several LGBT organizations in Bulgaria: In November 2009, the District Council of Pazardzhik voted in favor of an amendment forbidding the "public demonstration of sexual or any other orientation.

[68] In October 2010, the district's Administrative Court struck down the resolution, citing procedural errors in its passing.