|
The transition from socialism to democracy was bound to lots of hopes for liberation of the society rights and enhancement of the diversity in all aspects of public life. Today, when the modernization of the economy and the political system are already internationally acknowledged, we are still asking ourselves whether there is a real diversity of identities in the public area and to what extent the sexual orientation is one of the indications, according to which some of the Bulgarians identify themselves. The social modernization takes place slower than the economical and political one and this could be noticed in the scope of “unwritten laws”, which dictate people’s relationships more than the juridical rights. In spite of the myth for the tolerance of the Bulgarians, who are used to considering diverse cultural differences, the variety of sexual identities and cultures is still lacking. There are only few people who are not concealing their homo relationship from their colleagues, family and society. Although more predisposed to the topic than they were 5 or 6 years ago, the mass media is still behaving disparagingly and endorsing on the exotic, when it comes to gay or transsexual. (This doesn’t consider the lesbians, for whom principally the society doesn’t talk, because in the men-centered acknowledgement of the world, their existence is not important). The question is – where should we look for the reasons for this? Is somebody responsible for taking care of the society’ modernization to some groups of people (it is questionable, whether those people could be defined as a “minority”), if those groups are passive and don’t want to attract attention. A short examination of the so-called “gay and lesbian movement” in Bulgaria may be considered as a starting point in the analysis of the issue.
Is it possible at all that we talk about an organization? The organization assumes large number of people, which, unfortunately, doesn’t exist in Bulgaria, in spite of the presence of international support for organizations of lesbians and gays. Talking about organizations, it is not a bad idea to mention that between 1992 and 2003 there was only one officially registered nongovernmental organization in Bulgaria, known as “gay organization”. The lack of interest to organized activities is a much more important reason than the shortage of other reasons such as the absence of resources, which can make possible the existence of such organizations. Compare to the disabled people and the minorities, the Bulgarian gays and lesbians refused to involve in politics and to engage in common activities for showing themselves and breaking the traditional laws, which exclude homosexuality from the field of what could be seen. The reasons? The truest, though, well known is that the reasons are complex. The shortage of open discrimination based on sexual identity in spite of this is one of the most probable reasons for the lack of unity between gays and lesbians. The people fighting for gay rights were left alone as lonely Dohn Kihot’s
among mass people and “their” people. The overexposure of the topic of discrimination of homosexuality is not approved from homosexual people, especially from those, which have achieved some level of professional and personal realization.
The prerequisites for the involvement of homosexual identity existed, but most probably, they weren’t enough condition for the origin of common self-awareness, which could lead to mass activities. Compared to other minorities, the lesbians and gays in Bulgaria weren’t openly discriminated in the period following 1990, and the acts of violence upon them were rare. The police aggressive acts in toilets and cafes with homosexual guests were stopped in the mid 1990, being a sign of the ex-socialist time. The presence of a discriminative, not functioning text in the Criminal Code (clause 157, paragraph 4) up to 2002 caused some worries, that if there is a more aggressive self-expression of the homosexual emancipation in public space, the authorities will have a legal right to perform repressive actions. But such a situation doesn’t occur, and the advance of the negotiations for incorporation of Bulgaria in the European Union became a very important factor for the removal of more discriminative texts in CC and the acceptance of one of the most liberal anti-discriminating laws in Europe in the presence. It is unfortunate to a certain point for the active gays and lesbians, that the removal of the last discriminative clause from the Bulgarian Criminal Code concerning homosexuality didn’t occur upside-down, but because of a recommendation from Brussels. With the admittance of the Law for protection against Discrimination from 01.01.2004, the last hope disappeared that the law-protected breaking of the laws will be the uniting factor for the Bulgarian gays and lesbians. The leading of cases concerning breaking of the rights, most probably will be one of the factors for attracting attention on the topic of sexual identities in the near future. The experience of the Bulgarian gays and lesbian in underlining the unacceptance of homosexual people proved not being a winning strategy for their own integration. In the new law area and the build consummative culture it is time to think about new strategies for legalizing gay and lesbian identities in public space. Despite the questionable possibilities for involving in politics for homosexuals, bisexuals, and transsexuals for almost 40 years after Stayonwall, and exactly in the Bulgarian area, where it s hard to find radicalism at all, the possibilities for their integration as consumers of certain goods and services are now starting to be exploited. The emergence of a new wave of lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transsexuals since 2003, became possible because of the enlargement of the consummative culture in Bulgaria. The need of diversification of the consumers in the conditions of growing market is this factor, which will permit the enlargement of tolerance to differences. The new organizations, working in the field of social integration of homosexuals, bisexuals, and transsexuals (
“Queer-Bulgaria” , resource center “Bilitis”, sport gay club “Tangra” and others), have noticed the need of new way of handling the problem of integration. Instead of focusing on the unacceptance, their attention is drawn on the specified needs of the respective identities as consumers of goods and services. Instead of communication with international sponsors and organizations abroad, they are focusing on the business in Bulgaria and the successful in professional and personal aspect lesbians and gays as a natural source of support for their stability. The time will show up to what extent the new approach is the right one, but for sure, it could be said that the market conditions of life need market way of thinking even in the realization of activities for intercession and support of innovative practices. May
2004ã.
Copyright © 2001-2006 Bg-lesbian - All copyrights
are reserved |
