Bulgaria’s Supreme Court of Cassation has upheld the right of transgender people to change their names and gender markers on official documents.
The case involved a transgender woman who had spent nearly a decade trying to update her documents after moving to Italy, but repeatedly faced refusals from Bulgarian authorities.
The situation changed following a March 2026 ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union, which required EU member states to recognize legal gender changes in order to safeguard the right to free movement. In July, a Bulgarian court agreed to comply with the ruling, citing the principles of the rule of law and equal human dignity.
