Sharp criticism for Bulgarian PM Radev’s party as Sofia Pride 2026 celebrated
The June 13 Sofia Pride saw sharp criticism of Bulgarian Prime Minister Roumen Radev’s Progressive Bulgaria party for its endorsement in Parliament of the anti-Pride “March for the Family” counter-event.
Sofia Pride has been held annually in Bulgaria’s capital city since 2008, to campaign for the realisation of equal human rights for members of the LGBTIQ community.
This year saw another large turnout for the event – in part a celebration, in part a protest – near the former Soviet Army Monument in central Sofia.
As in more recent years, there was a counter-event, a “March for the Family” on the same day, supposedly in defence of “traditional values”.
The day before Sofia Pride, in a declaration in the National Assembly, Slavi Vassilev of Radev’s party said that the party stands behind “the values of the silent majority of people who are trying to defend traditions, family and faith, and not to deconstruct them, as has been fashionable lately”.
On behalf of Progressive Bulgaria, Vassilev’s declaration reaffirmed support for the definition in the Bulgarian constitution of marriage as a voluntary union between a man and a woman, and emphasised the state’s role in “protecting motherhood and child-rearing”.
Radev’s party also backed what it called parents’ rights to raise their children in line with their moral, religious and philosophical beliefs without “external ideological pressure”.
From the stage, there were scathing words for Progressive Bulgaria and its support for the “March for the Family”, the conservative event in which the leadership of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church participated. The organisers also criticised the public broadcaster for airing publicity for the alternative conservative event.
For all that, amid the warm summer weather, the mood at Sofia Pride was festive and upbeat, with the customary endorsement for the human rights campaign from several ambassadors of European countries, and with participants and supporters showing their enthusiasm for a Bulgaria in which LGBTIQ identity may be expressed freely and without fear and discrimination, unlike the current state of affairs in which administrations and courts act with disfavour against the community.
The ambassadors of Finland, the United Kingdom and Romania.
For the crowd, a highlight at the close of the afternoon concert was the headline act by Dara, who in May became the first Bulgarian entrant to win the Eurovision Song Contest. The venue exulted in ebullient enthusiasm to Dara’s winning song Bangaranga, before participants in Sofia Pride embarked on the customary procession through the central streets of the city.
Dara moments before going onstage to a rapturous welcome at Sofia Pride 2026.
(Photos: The Sofia Globe)
