Resources

This handbook is part of Colourful Childhoods, a project designed to empower LGBTIQ children in vulnerable situations to combat violence across Europe. The information contained here is informed by fieldwork carried out in a number of European Union countries (Bulgaria, Italy, Lithuania, Hungary, Portugal and Spain) during 2022 and 2023 as part of the Colourful Childhoods project. The fieldwork included a transnational survey with the participation of over 3,000 teenagers, eight focus groups with children and teenagers and 83 interviews with professionals who work with children and teenagers. Therefore, this handbook uses data and testimony from project participants throughout the text. The expertise of the project partners was applied to transform the information gathered during the fieldwork into key ideas and recommendations.

This Handbook describes the rules for sports organisations to improve the prevention and combating of gender-based violence and is the first of its kind for Bulgaria. It is intended for coaches and managers of professional and amateur sports clubs who want to improve their policies and management practices. The manual is entirely practice-oriented and includes a self-assessment questionnaire on the extent of implementation of the proposed policies and practices.

Female sexuality is still shrouded by a deep stigma. It is exacerbated when we add to it the stigma around sexual orientation and gender expression. With this booklet we aim to shed more light on female sexuality and present information on some of the important issues such as safe sex, consent, STIs and prevention.

For many of us, being a trans person in Bulgaria can be complicated and confusing. The lack of established administrative procedures, trained professionals and adequate support can be discouraging, but we are here to help! We specialise in legal, community, psychological and medical support for trans people. That's why we've created this short booklet to serve as a guide for you in your transition as a complete and happy trans person.

The PREVENT Project: Promoting Workplace Wellbeing and Risk Assessment for LGBTI Employees project presents online training modules on diversity and inclusion of LGBTI people in the workplace. Each module includes theoretical information, exercises for discussion and reflection, and practical tips for improving diversity and inclusion policies in the workplace.

Organisational Scanning is an Excel-based tool that can be used to check how far your organisation has come in terms of its diversity and inclusion policy. The organisational scan consists of a number of statements about diversity and inclusion in your organisation in relation to different topics i.e. general policy, HR policy, leadership, internal and external communication and diversity networks.

The PREVENT: Promoting Workplace Wellbeing and Risk Assessment for LGBTI Employees project presents online training modules on diversity and inclusion of LGBTI people in the workplace. Each module includes theoretical information, exercises for discussion and reflection, and practical tips for improving diversity and inclusion policies in the workplace.

The Youth Theatres Against Hate model is a multi-layered approach that combines elements of different approaches to working in the field of non-formal education: forum theatre, improv theatre and discussion. This Handbook aims to provide this innovative methodology for working with young people on issues concerning prejudice against people from vulnerable groups, in order to sensitise young people to issues in society. The handbook is intended to serve professionals who work with young people - teachers, trainers, social workers, youth workers and other experts, and it is not necessary to have previous experience of working with theatrical methods.

This handbook contains basic guidelines for conducting successful training on the topic of anti-LGBTI hate crimes. It is aimed at trainers training law enforcement officials to deal with victims of anti-LGBTI hate crimes and provides information on the main training methods and topics to be covered during the training.

This guide includes basic information on recognising, reporting and seeking support for victims of anti-LGBTI hate crime.

This booklet presents promising strategies of applying restorative justice to address conflict in anti-LGBT hate crime cases. Practical examples from Belgium, Bulgaria, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Poland and the United Kingdom are presented. Victims of hate crime are a particularly vulnerable group because of the assault on their identity and, in many cases, the ongoing discrimination and abuse they have faced over the years. At the same time, restorative justice helps to understand the reasons why perpetrators commit these forms of violence, which is critical to overcoming conflict and repairing harm.

This pamphlet presents options for recovering from the harm of anti-LGBT hate crimes through restorative justice. They view restorative justice as a process that allows victims of anti-LGBT hate crimes and those responsible for the harm to actively participate in conflict resolution and reparation through the assistance of an impartial third party.

This publication contains a range of information relating to the situation and needs of intersex people and aims to serve different groups of specialists in their work, including health specialists, social care specialists, decision and policy makers, and parents of intersex children.

This Capacity Building Framework has been developed in the context of the CHOICE project: promoting school environments that welcome diversity based on sexual orientation and gender identity. The Capacity Building Framework covers the delivery of face-to-face workshops with school professionals and the provision of online modules to be accessible to all interested teachers, school counselors, school psychologists and other education professionals.

This handbook is implemented within the framework of the project "Closing the Gap" and aims to serve different groups, organizations and sports clubs in their work to improve the situation of LGBTI people through sports activities.

A handbook for health professionals offering practical advice and guidance on providing health care to LGBTI people.

A concise guide for health care workers, providing a basic understanding of health and barriers to providing quality health care to LGBTI people.

This handbook is implemented within the framework of the project "Closing the Gap" and aims to serve different groups, organizations and sports clubs in their work to improve the situation of LGBTI people through sports activities.

These Policy Guidelines have been developed in the context of the CHOICE project: promoting school environments that welcome diversity based on sexual orientation and gender identity. They have been developed on the basis of research conducted in Greece, Bulgaria, Lithuania and Romania, which reviewed existing policies and practices to enhance diversity and prevent/address bullying in schools and collected qualitative data from key stakeholders in the school environment: students, teachers and parents. These Guidelines will help schools in participating countries become safe and inclusive places where all students, regardless of sexuality or gender, are equal and respected members of their school community.

The Safe To Be handbook explores the possibilities of applying restorative justice in anti-LGBTI hate crime cases. It contains five articles that examine restorative justice and its development in a historical and theoretical context, as well as present best practices for its application in anti-LGBTI hate crime cases. The handbook also provides an overview of the development of restorative justice in Bulgaria and presents the legal framework and good practices in the field.

Much work has been done by NGOs across the EU on the issue of hate crime against the LGBTI community. Many LGBTI victims do not report the crime because they do not believe that law enforcement will act on their complaint, because they fear the police response, or because reliving the crime in front of a stranger who may not respond well causes additional psychological trauma. This guide provides law enforcement trainers with a step-by-step interactive workshop that aims to raise awareness of the psychological impact of reporting a hate crime.

This report is a practical guide to taking action in cases of anti-LGBT hate crimes. It is part of the project "Come forward: empowering and supporting victims of anti-LGBT hate crimes", contributing to increase the number of dedicated reporting centres by building the capacity of civil society and official partners at local and national level. It was produced by Bilitis Foundation, GLAS Foundation under the Rights, Equality and Citizenship Programme (2014-2020) of the European Union.

This report is a practical guide to supporting victims of anti-LGBT hate crime. To combat under-reporting and improve the victim support system, the project "Come forward: empowering and supporting victims of anti-LGBT hate crimes" contributes to increasing the number of dedicated reporting centres by building the capacity of civil society and official partners at a local and national level. The Handbook is based on the standards set out in the Victims' Rights Directive 2012/29/EU2.

The Bleeding Love: Raising Awareness of Domestic Violence and Dating Violence against Lesbian, Bisexual and Trans Women in the EU project aims to counter domestic violence and dating violence against LGBT women. It explores the causes of violence; the characteristics of the perpetrator; the way in which violence occurs. In the booklet you will find information on the legal tools available to assert your rights and protect yourself from domestic and dating violence, as well as an overview of the Bulgarian and European legal framework.

The Fair Play project addresses an issue that is not talked about in our country: gender and gender identity discrimination and gender-based violence in sport. In this report from our survey of professional athletes and amateur sportspeople, you will find insights on the current situation in Bulgaria regarding various forms of violence in sport, including gender-based violence, as well as an overview of good practices for addressing them from other EU member states.

Gathering data of good practices in Europe on LGBTI teacher training and inclusive school policies; country policies, good practices and recommendations

This report presents the results of a qualitative study on the daily challenges faced by LGBTI families in the project partner countries. The research consists of desk research, qualitative interviews and focus groups with LGBTI family members in the six partner countries, conducted by the project partners Bilitis Resource Centre Foundation in Bulgaria, Association of LGBT and their Friends "Mosaic" in Latvia, Lithuanian Gay League (LGL) in Lithuania, Association "Love does not exclude" in Poland, Association ACCEPT in Romania and Iniciativa Inakost in Slovakia.

This Bring-In National Situation Analysis Report looks in depth at the situation of intersex people in Bulgaria, the level of access to health services and the awareness of health professionals on the topic in order to build a clear picture of the needs of intersex people and the training needs of health and social workers in Bulgaria.

The national Open Doors project report, based on a survey of LGBTI people as well as health professionals, tracks health and social workers' awareness of the health needs of LGBTI people in Bulgaria with the aim of building capacity to improve access to healthcare for LGBTI people.

This report presents an analysis of data from an online survey conducted by GLAS and Bilitis Foundations between September and October 2020. The aim of the survey was to collect data from LGBTI people in Bulgaria about the effects of COVID-19 on their lives. The report summarises the responses of 176 people of different ages, representing different subgroups of the LGBTI community in Bulgaria.

In order to provide up-to-date information on the experiences, perceptions and evaluations of LGBTI people in Bulgaria, an online survey of 420 respondents from the community was conducted between February and March 2020. Many of the indicators in the survey replicate those used in the national representative survey (which you can see HERE), in order to compare the positions of people from the community with those of society as a whole. Other indicators replicate those used in previous international surveys in order to get a real sense of possible changes in terms of basic rights for LGBTI people in the country.

The nationally representative survey was carried out under the BrinkItOn project (On the brink of acceptance: fighting discrimination through strategic planning and empowerment of the LGBTI community in Bulgaria). Its main objective was to provide valuable and reliable information on public attitudes to serve the LGBTI community in planning communication campaigns and in arguing for the fundamental rights of LGBTI people in Bulgaria.

This national report presents data from a survey on the needs of students, parents and school professionals related to improving measures to prevent and combat violence in Bulgarian schools. The study was implemented in three phases in November-December 2019 - desk research and review of existing research and collection of secondary data, online survey among 106 adults (teachers, school principals and parents) and 48 youth (students aged 14-19) and 6 focus groups with students, teachers/school staff and parents in Sofia and Plovdiv.

This study aims to present the experiences of LGBTI students at school as it is the main target group with which the coordinators of the study work - Single Step Foundation and Bilitis Foundation. This is the first such national quantitative survey (based on the principle of respondents) conducted in Bulgaria for the 2017/2018 school year, covering all 28 districts of the country. Its main aim is to explore the experiences of LGBTI students at school, how they feel safe there, and how they are treated by both their peers and school staff.

This analysis presents the results of a study on the application of Directive 2004/38/EC on the right of citizens of the Union and their family members to move and reside freely within the territory of the Member States, concerning LGBTI couples on the territory of the Republic of Bulgaria. The analysis includes an overview of the rights guaranteed to EU citizens and an analysis of the measures and deficits in the implementation of the Directive in Bulgaria, an overview of the administrative and judicial practice on the subject in Bulgaria and data from a national survey of same-sex couples with a recognised status in other EU Member States, residing temporarily or living in Bulgaria.

This report aims to present a comprehensive picture of the situation of LGBTI families in Bulgaria based on qualitative community research (interviews with such families) conducted by the team of the Bilitis Foundation in 2016. To date, no other larger-scale research has been conducted on the situation of LGBTI families in Bulgaria and there is a huge gap in the scientific literature on this topic. The results of this research will be useful as a basis for future advocacy campaigns for the rights of LGBTI families in Bulgaria.

Domestic violence and dating violence against LBT women are still poorly discussed topics within LGBTI communities themselves, and institutions responsible for investigating reports or providing support to victims of such violence have very limited experience in working with LBT women. The qualitative research conducted within the Bleeding Love project is the first of its kind in Bulgaria. It covers 40 interviews with lesbian, bisexual, pansexual and trans women who have experienced different types of violence.

In the period January-October 2015, The Bilitis Foundation conducted qualitative research supported by ILGA-Europe, which answers the question to what extent secondary schools in Sofia, Bulgaria, provide an inclusive environment for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex students and teachers. The study included a survey of internal policies to protect against discrimination and violence/bullying; interviews with students and teachers who self-identify as gay, bisexual or transgender; and a survey of school principals. This issue summarizes these results.

This compendium is an almost complete documentation of the 5th LGBT Art Festival in Sofia in 2009. The bilingual edition is published by the Bilitis Foundation and supported by the Trust for Civil Society in Central and Eastern Europe and the Mama Cash Foundation, the Netherlands. The collection seems deliberately undefined as "cultural" insofar as it belongs to the culture of festivals and their logic of presupposing through their spatio-temporal repetition a tradition and an establishment that does not always exist discernibly.

New social movements and sexuality is a report of essays written by scholars from across Europe and North America for the sixth meeting of the Socialism and Sexuality Network in October 2004. The conference was organized by the Department of Philosophy at Sofia University. It was the first meeting of the network in Eastern Europe. The geographical extension brought together scholars and topics from former communist countries, as well as from Western Europe and North America, on the theme of "New Social Movements and Sexuality."