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| - Is it true that the newly appointed Bulgarian Minister of Labor and Social Policy Ivanka Shalapatova is the leader of Sofia Pride and plans to implement gender-neutral policies in kindergartens? No, that's not true: Shalapatova has never been part of the Sofia Pride organizers' committee and she has personally refuted all allegations about the enforcement of "gender neutrality" policies in the nation's kindergartens.
The claim appeared in a TikTok video (archived here) published on June 8, 2023, with a caption reading (translated to English by Lead Stories staff):
The Minister of Labor and Social Policy Ivanka Shalapatova supports the gays!
The video featured an excerpt from the Bulgarian TV show "The Inescapable Karakolev," which opened with the words of the author Nikolay Karakolev (translated to English by Lead Stories staff):
The Minister of Labor and Social Policy Ivanka Shalapatova supports Sofia Pride, the gay parade. We would like to know how many genders she supports and how many genders she believes that exist. Are there any other genders except male and female and will she support this year's gay parade on June 19th?
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Mon Jun 19 18:38:51 2023 UTC)
Shortly after the inauguration of the new Bulgarian government on June 6, 2023, several websites and social media posts claimed that Shalapatova was the leader of the gay rights group Sofia Pride.
In a written response to the Bulgarian National Radio (BNR), the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy stated that
Minister Shalapatova has never been among the organizers or the volunteers of Sofia Pride.
Radoslav Stoyanov, a spokesperson for Sofia Pride, wrote in an e-mail to BNR that:
Ms. Ivanka Shalapatova has never been a member of the organizing committee of Sofia Pride for the 16 years this march was conducted.
Shalapatova directly refuted the claim that her ministry planned to institute a "gender neutrality" policy in kindergartens, calling the charges part of a "war of fear" against Bulgarian citizens, and writing on her personal Facebook page:
My photo is circulating around social media with absurd lies related to the introduction of 'gender neutrality', with children 'not calling their parents' mom and dad', and most absurdly - that this will be enforced in kindergartens. I am convinced that very few people believed this. But to all those who have fallen for this, I want to say categorically - these claims are a lie and an insidious attempt to provoke and abuse your trust. Someone wants us to be divided, to hate each other, to fear for our children and our families.
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