Desislava Dobreva Petrova (

Bulgarian Bulgarian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Bulgaria * Bulgarians, a South Slavic ethnic group * Bulgarian language, a Slavic language * Bulgarian alphabet * A citizen of Bulgaria, see Demographics of Bulgaria * Bul ...

: Десислава Добрева Петрова; born 12 December 1980) is a

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...

n gay rights activistEuro-Letter #100
/ref> and former president of

BGO Gemini The Bulgarian Gay Organization Gemini was the primary organization in the LGBT rights movement in Bulgaria, based in Sofia. It was legally registered in 1992 by an HIV-positive gay couple and since then has grown to become the main LGBT organiza ...

's largest

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term ...

rights organization. She has struggled for equal rights for LGBT people since 2000. As Chair of the Bulgarian gay organization Gemini, the oldest and only national membership LGBT rights-based NGO in Bulgaria, Petrova has been responsible for the overall management of the organization. Her personal dedication and efforts to the LGBT community have driven the organization towards its development as a national LGBT rights defender. On 19 January 2001 she

came out Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBT people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. Framed and debated as a privacy issue, coming out of ...

as a lesbian on the central news on the ''

Bulgarian National Television The Bulgarian National Television ( Bulgarian: Българска национална телевизия, ''Balgarska natsionalna televizia'') or BNT (БНТ), stylized as ·Б·Н·Т· since 2018, is a public television broadcaster of Bulgari ...

''. Petrova was the first publicly visible lesbian in Bulgaria, talking about LGBT rights. She is well known for campaigning in favor of anti-discrimination legislation and registered partnership. Petrova has also been involved in work groups for development of new laws, national plans and proposals for changes in the Bulgarian and EU legislation (Amendment of the Bulgarian Penal Code and development of the Bulgarian Act for Protection Against Discrimination, development of Law for Registered Partnership). Petrova is also co-anchor and host of the first ever radio broadcast, which discusses the problems of the LBGT community in Bulgaria. Petrova is also an independent environmentalist and was arrested during a protest on 2 July 2007 together with 35 other activists defending the Natural Park "Strandja". Around 500 blockaded the crossroad of Orlov Most (Eagle's Bridge) in the center of Bulgaria's capital.

Articles

Global Gayz

Reading Room: Discrimination and homophobia endures in Sofia

ALL SIDES: Changing a mentality takes years. Keeping an open mind does not.FROM ALL SIDES: Misrepresented, misunderstood

References

External links

Desislava Petrova official website

Bulgarian Gay Organization "Gemini"
1980 births Living people Bulgarian lesbians Bulgarian LGBT rights activists Bulgarian women activists 21st-century Bulgarian LGBT people {{LGBT-activist-stub