1. The Last Cycle of Extremist Ideologies in the Old Continent
– Council of Europe
In 2011, the Council of Europe adopted the final version of the Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (Istanbul Convention), which contained many useful provisions. However, Article 3(c), which defined gender as a social construct — “the socially constructed roles, behaviours, activities and attributes that a given society considers appropriate for women and men” — raised alarms. In Albanian and many other languages, “gender” is defined as “the totality of natural characteristics that distinguish men from women and determine each person’s specific role in the reproduction of the species;” (Dictionary of the Albanian Language). The English word “sex” means the sexual act or activity in Albanian and many other languages, not biological sex. This terminological confusion was suspected to be deliberate, orchestrated by ideological activists backed by indoctrinated bureaucrats, to force states to adopt laws that erased the natural male/female distinction and paved the way for multigenderism and transgenderism — not as lived experiences, but as norms imposed through propaganda, seduction, and legal obligation. In Albania, when the Convention was ratified by Parliament in 2012, this debate never took place; public attention was elsewhere, and the risk was not perceived as serious. Subsequently, however, a significant number of states refused to sign or ratify it, with six EU member states among them. Others ratified it with reservations. Recently, two months ago, the Latvian parliament voted to withdraw from the Convention. All this is regrettable because, overall, the Istanbul Convention is a positive and valuable text. Yet the provocation of Article 3(c) and two other passages seems to have poured a drop of kerosene into the soup.
– Scotland
In 2022, the Scottish Parliament passed the Gender Recognition Reform Bill, which allowed anyone who declared themselves to be of another gender to be automatically recognized by the state as their chosen gender, without any legal or medical procedure. The First Minister and leader of the Scottish National Party, Nicola Sturgeon — who had championed the law — was hailed by Western left-wing media as a beacon of enlightened progressivism and was tipped for high UN or international posts after her Scottish career. But the following year, scandals in Scottish prisons dimmed those prospects: several convicted male prisoners declared themselves women and were automatically transferred to women’s prisons, where they sexually assaulted female inmates until they were arrested and returned to male facilities. (Former First Minister Sturgeon’s career effectively ended in 2023 when police arrested her and her husband over misuse of party funds; but that is another story.) The UK government blocked the law, and the Supreme Court later struck it down entirely.
– Germany
In 2024, the German Bundestag passed the Self-Determination Act, proposed by Social Democratic Chancellor Scholz’s government. It allows anyone to change their legal gender at will, with the change automatically recognized by the Civil Registry without medical examination or court order. No major scandals have yet emerged from the new rules, but the German debate highlighted what critics called the law’s hypocrisy: a clause stated that the law would be suspended in the event of war. In peacetime, men could wear dresses and high heels and access women’s toilets, changing rooms, and prison cells; but when national security was at stake, they would be conscripted regardless of their wearing trousers or skirts. The party of the minister who proposed the law failed to pass the threshold in this year’s federal election, while the other left-wing coalition parties sank to historic lows. Analysts cite the law as one reason. The two parties that opposed it and promised repeal — the CDU and AfD — gained votes; the CDU leader is now Chancellor.
These examples, among many others, illustrate the cycle of (trans)gender ideology: its influence, the problems it creates, and society’s corrective reaction through democratic and constitutional mechanisms. Even without specific laws, ideological imposition has caused injustices, especially in the United States: biologically male athletes have competed in women’s sports, winning medals and prizes thanks to their physical advantages; confused minors have been encouraged by school counselors — often without parental knowledge — to take puberty blockers in preparation for irreversible gender-reassignment surgery. In almost all cases, these surgeries — amputating genitals in males or breasts in females — have proven traumatic, leaving victims with ruined lives and often leading to suicide.
2. The Post-Communist Albanian Cycle of Extremist Ideologies
In our country, owing to our traditional social context, such stories were long dismissed as exotic curiosities from distant lands with no serious consequences for Albanian society. Anyone who still thinks so should remember that 15–20 years ago these issues were unimaginable in Scotland, Germany, or elsewhere in the West.
The draft law on Gender Equality was pushed through by the Rama government majority in a similar fashion. In EU legislation, gender equality refers solely to socio-economic equality between men and women, meaning equal pay and opportunities in the workplace; multigenderism is fortunately never mentioned. The novelty of the new draft law compared with the gender equality law of 20 years ago is the requirement for numerical parity between men and women on company boards; the rest is padded with undefined phrases containing the word “gender.” Terms such as “gender identity,” “gender diversity,” “intergender,” and “inclusive gender expression” are left deliberately vague, creating terminological confusion. Tomorrow, anyone will be able to claim any meaning they like, and no one will be able to refute them with legal arguments. As has happened elsewhere, these unclear definitions will gradually replace established concepts in Albanian legislation, starting with those of the Family Code. The most professional analysis of the draft I have read comes from the Inter-Religious Council of Albania (https://knfsh.al/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Raporti.pdf) it convincingly exposes the lexical chaos of the text. Yet the joint intervention of the five religious communities — whose arguments aligned with those of the parliamentary opposition — was ignored.
It is noteworthy that the Rama government is taking these steps just as the ideological movement promoting them, known as “woke,” is in global retreat after its peak five years ago. In December 2022, criticizing a taxpayer-funded mural of a transgender woman in Tirana Student City, I asked whether “SP officials like Veliaj act out of personal conviction (having internalizedwoke ideology) or political opportunism (courting pro-woke segments of the international community).” I leaned toward the latter. Now, with wokism being dismantled by the Trump administration in the US and recent European election results pointing in the same direction, I must revise my view and regretfully conclude that a woke core has consolidated inside Rama’s party and is using state power to impose an obsolete ideology — like Ramiz Alia or Brezhnev in their final years. Yet, just as those two still enjoyed support in some Western circles out of ideological sympathy or the need for stability, the Rama regime has its backers.
3. And Their Victims
In 2022, I wrote about a horrific film produced by American public broadcaster NPR and aired by TVSh, the Albanian counterpart: a New Jersey high-school student convinces himself, then his parents, to undergo gender-reassignment surgery. (The Albanian Media Authority issued TVSh a warning; the second Trump administration later shut down NPR because of ideological extremism.) At the time, this propaganda seemed unacceptable but still exotic for Albania. These days, we have seen that the American story was also the tragedy of the young Albanian, Ersild Myrtollari, abused in Albania by the same cruel ideological activists. We must admit we were wrong; we underestimated the danger and failed to save a young life from emotional and physical mutilation. All that remains is to seek justice for Ersild and ensure he is the last victim.
4. When Brussels Forgets Its Head and Grasps Its Tail
A bizarre and revealing incident illustrated the above. When a journalist suggested that “the gender-equality law was being supported by the EU Delegation,” Democratic Party leader Sali Berisha spontaneously — and unnecessarily — replied that the head of the EU Delegation, Ambassador Silvio Gonzato, had personal motives (Gonzato is remarried to a man) and was therefore pushing the law. One may argue the comment was factually true; one may also argue it was inappropriate — polemics with ambassadors are rarely useful (except in extreme cases like Yuri Kim, where public condemnation is both a constitutional right and a democratic duty). Yet no reasonable mind could have predicted the hysterical reactions Berisha’s words provoked. The Enlargement Commissioner, Marta Kos, the European Commission’s chief spokesperson, bilateral ambassadors in Tirana, and numerous officials in between condemned the “violent language” and “personal attacks” against the head of delegation, claiming they “do not bring Albania closer to the EU.” Anyone unfamiliar with Albania who followed the episode on social media would conclude that Berisha had called for the ambassador to be publicly lynched; even Gonzato’s friends, after reading the tweets of Kos & co, might have mobilized to save him from lapidation or burning at the stake or from some other punishment straight out of the Old Testament.
Such ridiculous exaggerations would be the lesser evil. In reality, the European Commission has internalized extremist positions on gender, immigration, climate, and other issues more than any other European executive, often clashing ideologically with member states that, being closer to public opinion, have sought moderation. Brussels has also influenced candidate countries. In 2016, the justice-reform package contained an amendment adding “sexual orientation” to Article 18/2 of the Constitution alongside classic grounds for non-discrimination (gender, race, religion, etc.). Many in Tirana saw it as a Trojan horse to legalize same-sex marriage, sparking heated debate among MPs. According to the minutes of the Special Committee for Justice Reform, when one member asked what the amendment had to do with justice reform, the EU chief expert, Rainer Deville, replied candidly: “It has nothing to do with it, but many people in Brussels would be happy if you approve it!” Ultimately, the amendment was removed to avoid complicating an already complex situation.
The new centre-right majorities in the European Parliament and the decline of the left — which abandoned its social-democratic (and environmental) programme for wokism — are forcing the Commission to adopt more realistic stances. But change will take time, and meanwhile, the damage continues in Albania.
A less-discussed example: the government’s instrumentalisation and exaggeration of the “Gonzato incident” peaked when the ruling majority in the Assembly, feigning “extraordinary indignation,” abruptly halted debate on the draft law (again violating the Assembly’s Rules of Procedure and parliamentary practice) and rushed straight to the vote. It is ironic that the EU Delegation indirectly provoked the opposite of what it preaches: while Ambassador Gonzato, following Commission progress reports, rightly insists that European reforms in the Assembly must not exclude the opposition, the majority — ostensibly defending his “honour and dignity” — did exactly that, with habitual recidivism. Even Mr Gonzato himself seems to practicethe opposite of what he preaches: visiting Brussels delegations and his presentations of the EU progress report systematically avoid the opposition, contrary to decades of Delegation practice.
5. Epilogue, as Always
In conclusion, the debate on multigenderism was worthwhile because it exposed many things our public needs to learn. And don’t worry — the Balluku scandal has not been forgotten; we will be hearing about it for weeks and months. Especially the first part, when Balluku’s boss, for his own reasons, sits with his hands tied and inwardly suffers the helplessness he has displayed so far. Quite amazing that he can’t do anything against a subordinate not because she was arraigned in a major corruption scandal but because she had badmouthed him in terrible ways that have become public.
Post Scriptum: The 10-day exclusion of the opposition leader from Parliament for allegedly insulting the EU ambassador is, in fact, an insult to Europe and the European Union as we used to know them.
Genc Pollo
Former minister and MP
11 November 2025
—
The post Multigenderism’s Curious Impact appeared first on Tirana Times.
