ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines the main characteristics of the Bulgarian intimate citizenship regime and the landscape of social movement activism around issues of intimate citizenship during the communist and post-communist eras. The development of positive legislation in Bulgaria to protect lesbian, gay and bisexual people from discrimination and violence has been directly related to EU accession. The recognition of same-sex relationships has been one of the main goals of lesbian and gay activism in Bulgaria in recent years. The full decriminalisation of same-sex sexuality and the creation of a comprehensive anti-discrimination framework which includes sexual orientation discrimination constitute important shifts in the landscape of heteronormativity in Bulgaria. The chapter suggests that the institutionalisation and regulation of intimacy in Bulgaria has been both implicitly and explicitly heteronormative, radically privileging the conjugal, procreative heterosexual couples, and variously, actively oppressing, excluding, and marginalising those who have acted on, and sought to live out, their same-sex desires and attachments.
