The organizing committee of Sofia Pride reminds us that 10 member states of the European Union have already passed regulations allowing same-sex couples to marry.

In addition to these 10 countries, nine other EU member states give same-sex couples the opportunity to legalize their relationship through non-marital unions under different names in different countries — a civil union, registered partnership, etc.

Same-sex civil unions are currently legal in 19 of the 28 EU member states and in other European countries outside the EU, such as Liechtenstein, Switzerland, Iceland, Norway, Andorra, San Marino, Isle of Man and Jersey.

In the nine EU member states that do not recognize same-sex civil unions in any form, bills have been tabled in five countries. Only in Slovakia, Latvia, Greece and Bulgaria have such initiatives remained absent.

Broad opposition

None of the parliamentary parties in Bulgaria since 1989 has ever supported an official policy towards legalization of same-sex civil unions.

Public debate on this issue was raised in Bulgaria in 2008, during the parliamentary discussions about the adoption of the new Family Code. One suggestion envisaged legalizing life partners of different sexes in a union called "de facto marital cohabitation."

Despite the calls of LGBTI activists to legalize cohabitation of same-sex couples, many neoconservative NGOs, religious institutions, extreme nationalists and politicians stood against the proposal.