Chișinău, August 15, 2025
Photo: traditia.md
Moldova’s Ministry of Education has distributed new teaching materials to schools providing guidance on gender identity and sexual orientation topics, reports the Moldovan Orthodox outlet Tradition.
The materials, which have been described as instructional guides for teachers, include recommendations on addressing students by their preferred pronouns and discussing gender identity starting from elementary grades. A video containing these educational guidelines has circulated online, showing content that instructs teachers on how to respond when students express different gender identities.
The materials advise teachers that if a student born male identifies as female, they should use female pronouns when addressing that student. The guidelines also characterize opposition to these practices from parents or students as discrimination.
The teaching materials recommend beginning discussions about sexual education and gender identity in early elementary grades, allowing children to explore their gender identity. The resources have reportedly already been distributed at a lyceum in the town of Ocnița in northern Moldova.
Tradition connects these educational materials to Moldova’s ratification of the Istanbul Convention in autumn 2021 by the current parliamentary majority. The Istanbul Convention has proven controversial in several countries due to its definition of “gender” as "socially constructed roles, behaviors, activities and attributes" rather than biological sex, with critics viewing it as a vehicle for introducing gender ideology into law and education.
The Moldovan Orthodox Church had previously expressed opposition to the Istanbul Convention. In related developments, authorities recently prohibited an Orthodox religious procession for Pentecost while permitting LGBTQ Pride Week celebrations in the country.
The Education Ministry’s distribution of these materials represents part of Moldova’s ongoing integration with European Union standards and values as the country pursues EU membership.
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