Billboards of Belonging: Civic Outdoor Visuals against Anti-LGBTQ+ Policies in Bulgaria (2024–2025)
Billboards of Belonging: Civic Outdoor Visuals against Anti-LGBTQ+ Policies in Bulgaria (2024–2025)

Author(s): Iva Ivanova
Subject(s): Social Sciences, Media studies, Communication studies
Published by: Факултет по журналистика и масова комуникация, Софийски университет „Св. Кл. Охридски”
Keywords: civic visual communication; outdoor media; LGBTQ+ rights; protest visuals; Bulgaria; public space; visual framing
Summary/Abstract: This article examines civic outdoor visuals in Bulgaria as a form of democratic resistance against anti-LGBTQ+ policies in the period 2024–2025. Focusing on billboards, protest placards, and their digital counterparts, it explores how public visual materials contested exclusionary narratives and articulated alternative claims to belonging, legitimacy, and visibility. The study is organized as a case-based analysis situated in the context of heightened political and symbolic conÀict around LGBTQ+ presence in Bulgaria. Methodologically, it combines visual content analysis with interpretive analysis of framing strategies, symbolic resources, and legitimacy-building elements embedded in the visuals. The ¿ndings indicate that civic outdoor visuals functioned not only as expressive protest artifacts but also as instruments of public orientation, a൵ective solidarity, and civic legitimation. In this context, public imagery became a means through which belonging was made visible and democratic resistance was spatially articulated. The article contributes to research on visual communication, civic resistance, and the role of public imagery in polarized and exclusionary environments.

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