Tirana, October 14, 2025
Photo: orthodoxianewsagency.gr
The Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Albania has joined four other major religious communities in the country in issuing a formal statement opposing a proposed gender equality law, warning that the legislation threatens to impose harmful ideological concepts on Albanian society.
In an official letter dated October 10, and addressed to Albania’s President, Parliament, Prime Minister, and relevant government ministers, the Interfaith Council of Albania expressed “concerns regarding the new draft law ‘On Gender Equality.’“ The Council represents the Orthodox, Catholic, Evangelical, Muslim, and Bektashi communities.
His Beatitude Archbishop John and other religious leaders emphasized that while they “fully support respect and equality for every individual,” the proposed legislation contains provisions that create “legal uncertainty, risk misinterpretation, and may create difficulties in the practical implementation of the law by public and private institutions.”
At the heart of their objections is the law’s embrace of gender theory disconnected from biological reality. “By changing the understanding of gender and elevating it to an entirely self-determinable dimension, the draft law disconnects the human being from their biological nature and replaces it with a changeable, subjective, and identity-insecure concept,” the statement reads.
The Council raised particular alarm about provisions affecting children’s education, stating the law “provides for education on these issues without respecting the primary role of the family and the natural right of fathers and mothers in the educational process of their children in accordance with their respective moral convictions and religious beliefs, thus creating uncertainty and confusion in children’s formation.”
The religious leaders warned that “exposing minors to these concepts at an early age, in open environments such as schools and in the presence of strangers, can bring more harm than good for them.”
The interfaith coalition also objected to enforcement mechanisms in the proposed law, expressing concern about “control mechanisms and sanctions that could become coercive and punitive tools aimed at social reform through the imposition of concepts that do not stem from the legal, cultural, and moral tradition of the majority of the population.”
The statement criticized the law’s quota provisions, arguing that it “seeks equality in results, not in opportunities, by establishing mandatory gender quotas that undermine the principle of meritocracy.”
The religious leaders wrote: “A law that aims to protect a minority but imposes its worldview on the majority risks becoming a discriminatory instrument itself, undermining the principle of freedom of conscience and democratic coexistence, replacing dialogue with compulsion.”
They argued that “respect for diversity cannot be achieved by relativizing human nature or by denying the innate difference between men and women, which is the foundation of life, love, and social coexistence.”
The religious communities called on Albanian authorities “to conduct a broad public consultation process before approving any new legislative initiative” and expressed their readiness for “open and constructive dialogue, with the aim of protecting human dignity and strengthening peace and understanding in society.”
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