24 June 2008 | In a milestone event for the country, the first ever gay pride parade in Bulgaria is scheduled to take place in the capital this Saturday, amid protests and threats by nationalistic groups.

The parade, organised by the national advocacy non-profit gay organisation Gemini, will start at 4:30pm at the National Palace of Culture in Sofia, continue down the boulevards of Vitosha, Tsar Osvoboditel and Vasil Levski and end at the Red House for Culture and Debate on 15 Luyben Karavelov Street.

The parade is dedicated to the Family and will be held under the motto “Me and My Family” because, according to the organisers, they are “fathers and daughters, mothers and sons, brothers and sisters.”

Representatives of the European Parliament, the European Commission, Amnesty International, Bulgarian members of the European Parliament and other political and non-governmental organisations, as well as Sofia’s mayor Boyko Borisov have been invited to the event. In addition, organisers expect journalists from national print and electronic media to attend.

Besides gaining permission from the Sofia municipality to go ahead with the parade, the organisers will provide for security and have also informed the police, who will stand by in case of unrest.

Gemini representatives told BalkanTravellers.com that they do not expect serious clashes, despite the fact that, on Sunday in response to the planned parade, a “week for intolerance against homosexuality” under the motto “Be Intolerant, Be Normal” was announced by Boyan Rasate, leader of the Bulgarian National Union, a marginal nationalistic organisation.

Rasate claimed that homosexuals in Bulgaria enjoy political protection and that there are homosexuals in all Bulgarian political parties apart from the Bulgarian Agrarian People’s Union. He also presented to journalists the idea to hold a roundtable discussion on how to limit homosexual events.

Rasate and his organisation came into the media spotlight last August, after he announced intentions to gather a private national guard made up of young, physically fit volunteers, “led by patriotism, courage and consistency.” The initiative – which proved to be short-lived and produced no concrete results, was aimed at protecting the majority of the population, following several days of ethnically-motivated clashes in Sofia between Roma and ethnic Bulgarians.

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