I have never been in Bulgaria but I was in Romania and it was pretty LGBT friendly there. But again. Also in the city. I assume the countryside is much different.

peaking of men, the Balkan macho culture created a fear of gay people (literal homophobia). On a regular basis I hear men speaking about being afraid of being raped by gay men in certain situations (think massage rooms, men’s locker rooms, bars).

So "macho" men complaining they are afraid? Lol.

And of course this won't happen. In fact what I see is that the more kinky people get, the more important expressed consent becomes. Of course the gay scene is pretty fast and loose with consent in some circles but you won't end up in those places unless you go looking for them.

[–] IoSapsai@lemm.ee 1 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Don't get me wrong, Bucharest and Sofia are rather LGBT friendly as long as you know where you're safe. (I've only visited both for a couple of days on a number of occasions). I can't speak about other cities but the Orthodox Church is really strong in Romania. Bulgaria on the other hand has soccer extremists/fascists who are particularly dangerous and tend to mob on their targets so it's hard to even find the culprits by the authorities... Not that they even bother unless it's a murder.

In fact I had a mob of Bulgarian hooligans in Bucharest of all places yelling "Look dude Rapunzel!" pointing at me (I present masculine but have rather long hair). I felt realy threatened and uncomfortable but I realised they didn't know I spoke their language and I was in a crowded place so it all passed.