Church protest in Skopje, North Macedonia on June 29, 2023. Photo by Bojan Blaževski/Meta.mk, used with permission. This story was produced by Truthmeter.mk as part of the Western Balkans Anti-Disinformation Hub. An edited version is republished here under a content-sharing agreement between Global Voices and Metamorphosis Foundation. On June 29, the Macedonian Orthodox Church – Archdiocese of Ohrid (MOC-AO) organized a large protest in Skopje against the draft laws on gender equality and civil registration, drawing several thousand supporters of conservative political parties to the capital of North Macedonia. The iconography of the protest included religious symbols, old Macedonian flags favored by nationalist circles — and, notably, Russian flags — as reported by the News Agency Meta.mk. The next day, in an interview with TV24 the president of North Macedonia said that domestic and allied security services warned him about cooperation between some MOC-AO bishops and Kremlin secret services. Representatives of the Catholic Church and Evangelical Protestant Church also attended the protest. Its demands were also supported by the Islamic Community, which didn't send representatives at the event. Before the protest, the MOC-AO and right wing circles waged a disinformation campaign to mobilize support against upcoming legislative changes that would advance women’s rights and the rights of transgender people. Fact-checking service Truthmeter.mk noted that MOC-AO Bishop Jakov of Stobi, who served as spokesperson for the campaign, used political spin and inflammatory provocative language to direct anger against civil society organizations, using rhetoric reminiscent of the 2016 Putin-style witch-hunt against NGOs. He deemed them foreign mercenaries and blamed them for “persecutions and lynching” against the church, and attempting to “shackle our society in a kind of totalitarianism under the guise of fighting for human rights.” In the name of the church, Bishop Jakob demanded protection from the new laws for “the 99 percent of the people endangered by them” and for whom the laws were unacceptable. That rhetoric culminated at the protest in the speech by Archbishop of Ohrid and Macedonia Stefan, the head of MOC-AO, who stressed that the “laws were a disappointment,” while the church “will defend the children (and women) from unacceptable and offensive ideologies” that “legitimize violence against women” who “do not want such fake equality and fake rights.” Zoran Jovanovski, who presents himself as an “intellectual, political analyst & politician,” and is a member of the “pro-Russian lobby in VMRO-DPMNE” (right) and members of political party Rodina Makedonija (on the left), with a joined old Macedonian and a Russian flag at the church protest in Skopje on June 29, 2023. Photo by Bojan Blaževski/Meta.mk, used with permission. Minister of Labor and Social Policy Jovana Trenčevska, the official responsible for the two controversial laws, the Law on Gender Equality and the Law on Civil Registry, officially denied some of the disinformation campaign claims, in particular the urgency narrative that their adoption is imminent, while in fact they have not been on the government and parliament's agenda at the moment. She noted that, contrary to MOC-AO statements, the aim of the Law on Gender Equality is to improve the role of women in society. The amendments to the Law on Civil Registry would only enable transgender persons to change the data entry on their sex in the Civil Registry, and respective ID documents. Trenčevska's statement included support for the right of anyone in the country to organize a protest against government policies. Her explanation also referred to attempts to confusion about the gender terminology, presenting it as something new and artificially imposed by the supposedly evil West. Родовата еднаквост не е исто што и половата еднаквост. Родовата еднаквост, не е исто што и родов идентитет. Родот и полот се дефинирани согласно постојната регулатива во државата и согласно она што државата си го превзела како обврска од Истанбулската конвенција. [The term] gender equality is not the same as equality of the sexes. Gender equality doesn't equal gender identity. They are defined in compliance with the current legal regulations of the country and according to the obligations stemming from the Istanbul Convention. She noted that the definitions in the Draft Law on Gender Equality and the previously amended Law on Protection and Prevention of Violence against Women are identical, which prevents legal insecurity in the country.