Uploaded December 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
BULGARIA’S MARCH FOR MARRIAGE AND FAMILY: IS IT TIME FOR A UK EQUIVALENT?
Dear marriage supporter,
Krystian Szkwarek helped establish Bulgaria’s national March for the Family and has become a prominent national voice for marriage and family life. I sat down with him to hear how the march began, how it grew, and what can be learned from a country where marriage is still defined in law as between a man and a woman. Our full conversation is available here:
He affirms that marriage and family are the “root of everything”, and argues that protecting that foundation is not merely a private preference, but a public good.
A major theme was practical, not theoretical: how to build something that lasts. “I started this initiative 5 years ago”, he says, then describes the shift from an informal gathering to a professional campaign: clarity and competence mattered, because it signalled seriousness.
The results, as he described them, were striking: “We suddenly became 2,000. In 2023, we became 6,000. In 2024, last year, we broke 10,000. And this year, I think we were again around 10 to 12,000”. He told me that this was larger than Sofia’s ‘Pride’ parade, saying that the March for the Family did in three years “what they accomplished in 18”.
The legal context in Bulgaria is also unusual by Western European standards. Article 46(1) of Bulgaria’s constitution states: “Marriage is a voluntary union between a man and a woman.” That is one reason the March for the Family has a clear and widely understood definition to point to.
Another part of our conversation explored how ‘gender ideology’ debates played out in Bulgaria, including disputes about what should be taught in schools, and how campaigners frame arguments to avoid being dismissed as mere hostility. Bulgaria’s parliament amended its education law on 7 August 2024 to ban LGBTQ+ “propaganda” in schools.
Finally, our discussion turned to the demographic headwinds facing Europe, and Krystian offered a blunt diagnosis that will resonate well beyond Bulgaria: “When you put people in cities, they stop making kids.” He linked that to the type and cost of housing available. For context, England and Wales’ total fertility rate was 1.41 children per woman in 2024, the lowest on record. Eurostat reports the EU’s total fertility rate at 1.38 in 2023. In the same Eurostat release, Bulgaria is reported as the highest in the EU, at 1.81 live births per woman in 2023.
With fertility now at 1.41 children per woman in England and Wales, maybe it is time to explore an annual, positive public celebration of marriage and family in the UK. If you have views on whether that would help, or practical ideas, or might even be willing to assist, please get in touch by replying to this email.
In the meantime, from all of us at C4M, have a wonderful Christmas!
And don’t forget, if you’re not yet supporting C4M financially but would like to help, please click the donate button at c4m.org.uk
Dr Tony Rucinski
facebook.com/coalition4marriage
BULGARIA’S MARCH FOR MARRIAGE AND FAMILY: IS IT TIME FOR A UK EQUIVALENT?
Dear marriage supporter,
Krystian Szkwarek helped establish Bulgaria’s national March for the Family and has become a prominent national voice for marriage and family life. I sat down with him to hear how the march began, how it grew, and what can be learned from a country where marriage is still defined in law as between a man and a woman. Our full conversation is available here:
He affirms that marriage and family are the “root of everything”, and argues that protecting that foundation is not merely a private preference, but a public good.
A major theme was practical, not theoretical: how to build something that lasts. “I started this initiative 5 years ago”, he says, then describes the shift from an informal gathering to a professional campaign: clarity and competence mattered, because it signalled seriousness.
The results, as he described them, were striking: “We suddenly became 2,000. In 2023, we became 6,000. In 2024, last year, we broke 10,000. And this year, I think we were again around 10 to 12,000”. He told me that this was larger than Sofia’s ‘Pride’ parade, saying that the March for the Family did in three years “what they accomplished in 18”.
The legal context in Bulgaria is also unusual by Western European standards. Article 46(1) of Bulgaria’s constitution states: “Marriage is a voluntary union between a man and a woman.” That is one reason the March for the Family has a clear and widely understood definition to point to.
Another part of our conversation explored how ‘gender ideology’ debates played out in Bulgaria, including disputes about what should be taught in schools, and how campaigners frame arguments to avoid being dismissed as mere hostility. Bulgaria’s parliament amended its education law on 7 August 2024 to ban LGBTQ+ “propaganda” in schools.
Finally, our discussion turned to the demographic headwinds facing Europe, and Krystian offered a blunt diagnosis that will resonate well beyond Bulgaria: “When you put people in cities, they stop making kids.” He linked that to the type and cost of housing available. For context, England and Wales’ total fertility rate was 1.41 children per woman in 2024, the lowest on record. Eurostat reports the EU’s total fertility rate at 1.38 in 2023. In the same Eurostat release, Bulgaria is reported as the highest in the EU, at 1.81 live births per woman in 2023.
With fertility now at 1.41 children per woman in England and Wales, maybe it is time to explore an annual, positive public celebration of marriage and family in the UK. If you have views on whether that would help, or practical ideas, or might even be willing to assist, please get in touch by replying to this email.
In the meantime, from all of us at C4M, have a wonderful Christmas!
And don’t forget, if you’re not yet supporting C4M financially but would like to help, please click the donate button at c4m.org.uk
Dr Tony Rucinski
facebook.com/coalition4marriage
