Single Step Foundation’s Official Statement Before Parliamentary Committees

Today, a joint meeting of the Committee on Demographic Policy, Children and Family and the Committee on Youth and Sports was held with the agenda “Discussion of issues related to the distribution of materials and organization of events that promote LGBTI – activities that pose a threat to minors over the age of 14. Listening to stakeholders and their suggestions to ensure a safe environment.”

Among the civil society representatives who responded were Ivan Dimov and Neli Tsvetkova from Single Step Foundation with a statement regarding the national survey. Due to the large number of stakeholders, the speeches were limited to 3 minutes of time. For this reason, we publish here the full text of the Foundation’s submission to the parliamentary committee:

STATEMENT

My name is Neli Tsvetkova and I am speaking as a clinical psychologist, member of the Bulgarian Association of Family Therapy and most of all, as a former school psychologist and specialist who has worked with many LGBTI youth and their families as part of Singles Step Foundation’s network of psychologists. The Foundation is licensed by the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy and the Agency for the Quality of Social Services with license No. L-3129-651 to provide the social service “Information and counselling”, target group “All children, children at risk within the meaning of the Child Protection Act and adults from the LGBTI community; parents and caregivers of children from the LGBTI community”.

This statement comments on the real threat to the safety of students in Bulgaria.

There are currently many LGBT pupils in schools who face real difficulties and dangers. According to research by WHO, UNICEF and others, Bulgarian children and adolescents have the unhealthiest behaviour of any of their peers in the EU.

Data from our previous national survey on attitudes towards LGBT pupils in Bulgarian schools with almost 900 respondents showed that they are victims of verbal (71%) and physical (34%) bullying on their school grounds. This has a number of consequences for these students – negatively impacting their mental and physical development, as well as their ability and motivation to participate fully in the learning process. The Department for Education has a duty to take steps to curb bullying of all minority groups, including LGBT students. When bullied, more than half (54%) never reported incidents to staff or a family member (55%). The law passed dramatically limits youth from seeking help, which increases the risk to their safety.

The survey, which we conducted for the second time from June 20 to July 30, 2024, aims to shed light on the current situation in Bulgarian schools regarding the experiences of LGBT students so that we can inform prevention and care for the basic human need of youth to feel safe and that they are accepted by others. The survey was completely voluntary and anonymous, with students completing it by opening a link on our website. It was conducted in compliance with GDPR and all other anonymous survey requirements. Anyone completing it was able to end their participation at any point and received no material or other incentive from us for their participation. They were only driven by their motivation to share their experiences at school.

Sexual orientation and gender identity are aspects of a person’s identity that are innate and are established during adolescence. This explains the choice of the study’s target group (14-19 years), an age period of significant physical and psychological change that carries a high risk of self-rejection and rejection by others. Here I would like to clarify again that sexual orientation is innate and cannot be influenced from the outside. We have experience of many young people who have been subjected to therapy to disavow their sexual orientation, which, apart from being highly traumatic for them, has no effect.

Young people from the LGBT community face constant pressure from society to hide, to be ashamed of who they are, and are rejected by peers and authorities based on innate characteristics such as sexual orientation, which are protected by national and international laws on direct or indirect discrimination (as are the characteristics of gender, race, nationality, ethnicity, origin, religion, etc.). Undermining the dignity of any marginalised group in schools has a negative impact on other students as well, as it instils an overall context of division, shame, fear of being different from others and therefore rejected. It also invites aggression, which has proven negative effects not only on the victims but also on the bullies.

The negative effects of the newly adopted law on students are already being felt. Since the law was passed, there has been a dramatic increase in the number of students turning to us for support because they are very worried about the upcoming school year. I give examples of the concerns of these young people:

• Increased bullying because of the label “non-traditional sexual orientation”;
• Increased feelings of helplessness and that the world hates them;
• Uncertainty about whether the fact that they are LGBT is considered “propaganda.”
• Doubt about whether they can live freely in Bulgaria and an increased desire to emigrate.

To summarise – there are students who feel scared to go back to school in the autumn. We have also received reports from parents that they are worried whether their children will be protected from verbal and physical abuse.

As a stakeholder in this issue, the following are our suggestions for providing a safe school environment:

1. Revoke the adopted law and stop the language of pathologizing in the public space;
2. Training of educational professionals on how to create a safe and accepting school environment. The way to reduce violence in schools is by developing skills in constructive communication, understanding and acceptance of differences and critical thinking;
3. Clear and effective policies for responding to bullying and human rights violations at school, including hate speech;
4. Provide evidence-based and impartial information on human diversity issues, including sexual and gender identity.

In conclusion, I stress that our organisation does not promote any sexual orientation in or outside schools. After thousands of consultations with LGBTI youth and their parents, we clearly see the negative consequences of hate speech, non-acceptance, misunderstanding by school staff and politicization of the issue. At Single Step we provide support to young people who seek us out because they have no support in their teachers and parents. Our aim is to build bridges between these young people and other people in their lives.