An open letter signed by four of the Christian communities in Bulgaria called upon Sofia mayor Boiko Borissov and Sofia city hall to not allow the Gay Pride Parade due to take place in Sofia on June 27 2009.

The letter was sent to Bulgarian media on June 26 2009 and was signed by leaders of the United Evangelical Churches, the United Church of God, National Alliance, the Reformed Apostolic Church and the Roman Catholic Church in Bulgaria.

"As representatives of Christian religion in Bulgaria we want to express our deepest concern about the organising of gay parade in Sofia for a second year in a row" the letter said.

"Such parades discredit the authority of the family institution as a union between a man and a woman. By allowing the aggressive display and public parade of homosexual orientation and way of life, you put Bulgaria in serious danger" it said.

The example of The Netherlands and Scandinavian countries shows that the successful public campaign of homosexuals drastically undermines marriage as an institution".

The letter quotes surveys showing that homosexuality harmed physical and mental health and had an impact on people's life expectancy.

According to the authors of the letter, it was an indisputable fact that marriage was the best environment to raise children. A child growing outside a marriage was said to have a bigger chance to experience emotional and physicals development problems.

"The acknowledgement of right for sexual determination does not mean that we have to affirm homosexuality and stimulate its expansion by such events," the letter said.

The letter comes a week after Bulgarian Orthodox Church asked for the Rainbow Friendship march to be banned. The head of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Maxim, called on Sofia authorities to stop the parade and denounced homosexuality as the "fruits of darkness". The leader of Bulgaria’s Muslim community also condemned the march.

The Rainbow Friendship march has received the support of 11 embassies, including those of the US, UK, Germany and France. But the parade has also drawn fierce criticism. Students from Sofia University’s Theology Department marched on June 21 to protest. Bulgarian Orthodox Christians, clergy and the Brotherhood of Sofia’s Orthodox Churches also supported the counter-demonstration.

"We are not against the right of everyone to identify themselves and belong to a certain group, but we don’t think it benefits society to brazenly advertise homosexuality," the declaration of the initiative committee reads. They said that the gay parade was an attempt to blur the boundaries between "normal" and "abnormal" behaviour.

The Rainbow Friendship march is scheduled to start at 4pm on June 27 2009 near the National Palace of Culture (NDK) at the pedestrian bridge connecting it with Hilton Sofia hotel. It will end outside the Red House Centre for Culture and Debates on 15 Luyben Karavelov Str.