Bulgaria
Parliament rushed through a Russian-style “LGBT propaganda” bill on August 7 in a marathon session that featured a series of speeches that queer activists denounced as akin to hate speech, sparking protests across the capital.
The vaguely worded law prohibits “directly or indirectly promoting, disseminating or encouraging ideas or views related to non-traditional sexual orientation or gender identity different from biological sex” in Bulgarian schools. The law does not prescribe specific penalties for violations.
The bill was introduced by the Reconstruction Party, which has strong ties to the Kremlin, but was passed with surprising support from the pro-European centre-right GERB party. A total of 159 MEPs voted in favour of the bill, with only 57 from the reformist Continue Change party voting against it.
Bulgaria currently does not have an elected government after national elections in June saw the ruling and opposition parties split. New elections are scheduled for October 20th, Bulgaria's fifth election in three years. Political parties are likely using the threat of “LGBT propaganda” to garner votes.
Nevertheless, the law's passage sparked protests from queer, women's and human rights groups around the capital, Sofia, who called on President Rumen Radev to veto the law.
“This is the first step towards criminalising non-traditional sexual orientation. This is totally unacceptable and goes against the spirit of what we aspire to as a country and society,” Ivan Ivanov, who attended the August 7 rally, told Euronews.
Anti-LGBTQ “propaganda” laws have been widespread since Russia passed one in 2013. Hungary and Lithuania have laws restricting LGBTQ speech in schools and around children, but Bulgaria would be the first EU member state to pass such a law after the European Court of Human Rights ruled in January 2023 that Lithuania's law violated the European Convention.
Other countries currently considering such legislation include Georgia and Kazakhstan. Several African countries, including Uganda, Ghana, Namibia and Liberia, have also recently passed or are considering laws criminalizing the promotion of LGBTQ rights. A growing number of Republican-led US states are also passing similar legislation.
Austria
Homegrown Taylor Swift's Erasu tour cancelled three shows in Vienna after authorities arrested two suspected extremists for plotting to attack the concert.
Swift was scheduled to perform at Ernst Happel Stadium on August 9, 10 and 11.
Authorities said they arrested the 19-year-old main suspect in Telnitz, about 50 miles south of Vienna, and a second suspect, aged 17, in the capital.
Omar Hajjawi Pirchner, head of Austria's National Security Intelligence Service, said the 19-year-old had been extremist in favour of the Islamic State and that material linked to the Islamic State and al-Qaeda had been found in the 17-year-old's home.
Hajjawi-Pilchner said the suspect was employed by a company providing services at the concert and planned to “kill as many people as possible” at the event using knives and homemade explosives.
Organisers initially said the concert would go ahead with extra security from national police, but the date was abruptly cancelled just hours later.
Promoter Barracuda Music said all tickets would be automatically refunded within 10 working days.
Tickets for the concert had been sold out for months, with an estimated 170,000 people expected to attend.
This is not the first time that Islamic extremists have allegedly targeted a pop concert: in 2017, an extremist carried out a suicide bomb attack at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England, killing 22 people and injuring more than 100.
Canada
Supreme Court has rejected alt-right activist Jordan Peterson's appeal against the Ontario Psychological Association's decision that said he needed to undergo social media training or risk losing his medical licence.
Peterson, who gained international fame for his vocal opposition to the Transgender Rights Bill passed by the Canadian government in 2017, has become a darling of the alt-right movement due to his writings and social media posts in which he frequently advances misogynistic and transphobic views about women, masculinity and gender identity, as well as a general antipathy to other left-wing issues.
In 2022, the Association of Psychologists found his posts were “degrading,” called into question his competency as a psychologist and could bring the profession into disrepute. The association ordered him to undergo social media training.
Peterson sought judicial review but lost in a lower court. The Supreme Court did not give reasons for dismissing the appeal. Peterson was ordered to pay the costs of the lawsuit.
Initially, Peterson said he would continue to fight the order at all costs, but days later, his lawyer told CBC that Peterson would be attending training.
The case has been a divisive issue among Canadian civil rights groups, with LGBTQ advocacy group Egale intervening on behalf of the Ontario Psychological Association, while the Canadian Civil Liberties Association intervened on behalf of Peterson, arguing that professional associations should not regulate speech that is not related to their profession.
Pierre Poirievre, leader of the Conservative Party, which also has support from the alt-right and far-right in Canada, also posted in support of Peterson.
“Once again, government bureaucrats are threatening to ban Canadians from practicing their profession because they expressed political opinions the nation doesn't like,” he wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
The Ontario Association of Psychologists is not a government bureaucracy. It is a professional association.
Belgium
Former Belgian prime minister Elio Di Rupo has spoken out against transphobia in an open letter after his current deputy prime minister raised the alarm this week by endorsing a transphobic book on his social media channels.
David Clarenval, deputy prime minister of the centre-right Reform Movement, was accused of transphobia after posting on X praising the book Transmania: An Exploration of the Excess of Transgender Ideology by Marguerite Stern and Dora Mouth.
The book, originally published in France, is full of speculation and conspiracy theories claiming that transgender people don't exist and are linked to pedophilia. Since its publication in April 2023, it has become a symbol of the French far-right.
Speaking to the Brussels Times, Clarinval defended his post.
“The book gives a broader perspective on transgender issues,” he said.
Di Rupo, Belgium's first openly gay prime minister and now a member of the European Parliament, responded to the controversy by writing an open letter calling on conservatives and liberals to agree to protect the rights of all people.
“In this reactionary climate, it is essential to emphasize that the freedoms granted to transgender people in no way diminish the freedoms of other citizens. The extension of rights and freedoms to some people does not diminish the rights and freedoms of others,” Di Rupo wrote.
“Finally, it is important to remember that the freedoms we enjoy today are the fruit of hard-fought struggles, countless political battles, and immense human tragedies. They were heroic struggles, indeed, often involving great suffering and sacrifice, that have shaped the free world we live in in the West. Whether it was the struggle for civil rights in the United States, gender equality, the rights of LGBTQIA+ people, or freedom of expression, they have all been driven by the same unwavering will: to defend human dignity, freedom, and respect in all its complexity.”
