Gay life in serbia

The Scourge of Homosexuality

Serbia is in the throes of changing from a cruel war-torn society to a free-thinking free-enterprise nation of progress. Having suffered from its own aggressions as well Nato&#;s bombs in the 90&#;s there is little tolerance now for outside interference or for social experiments. Homosexuality is treated as a scourge with no legitimacy, no legal protections or cultural recognition. &#;Gay Life in Serbia&#; is an almost nonexistent scene. In all of Serbia there are only two known lgbtq+ bars.

Compiled by Richard Ammon

March

The following story was taken from the Belgrade Labris Lesbian web site:

Lost Hope
Gay and lesbian existence in Serbia is mostly based on leading a double-life. Gays and lesbians live in complete isolation and silence. There are only limited activists who are valiant to speak openly in public or on television. Being an out womxn loving womxn or gay is a perilous social phenomenon in Serbia.

There are people who even think that existence gay or lesbian is something imported from the West, something that spoils Serbian youth. During Slobodan Milosevic’s totalitarian regime gays were explicitly on the list of so-called enemies of the state an

Pride Week Musings: Being Homosexual in Serbia

It’s the Identity Week in Amsterdam. The eventful seven days filled with LGBT arts, society, and sports events. Its culmination is the Canal Parade that usually happens on a Saturday.

Where I come from, the Celebration parade is still a protest.

It takes cordons upon cordons of police to hold a Pride pride in our capital. I’m not sure how flourishing is such an event if you need policemen to secure just a hundred people who are walking and holding banners. I guess you acquire to start somewhere.

I’m queer , and I'm from Serbia, a homophobic country with, currently, a lesbian prime minister. Don't be fooled, she was appointed to that function just to show to the EU how liberal Serbia actually is — so that the country doesn’t hold to do anything about LGBT rights for a couple more years.

Why perform you need so much police to secure a gay pride parade? Because thousands of hooligans will flock to Belgrade to kill the fags. Some policemen that I talked to, for a concise time when I was involved with an LGBT NGO project, shared that sentiment. I guess I should have thanked them for choosing to perform their job instead of joining the angry mob.

It's not unusual

Belgrade Pride: Serbia's LGBTQ+ battle on after no progress

The Belgrade Pride parade has not been banned. There are no immediate threats, and no incidents are expected. As positive as all this is, that's where the good news for the organizers of the parade, which is due to take place in the Serbian capital this Saturday, ends.

For the past 10 years, the organizers of Belgrade Pride include been calling for the adoption of laws on same-sex unions and gender identity, as well as a swift and successful response from state authorities to hate speech and crimes targeting the Diverse community in Serbia.

"We are far from achieving equality or a dignified existence, and we are even further from having legal solutions that would allow LGBTQ+ citizens in Serbia to live equal and functional lives," said Filip Vulovic, one of the parade's organizers.

As a fallout, the organizers' list of demands remains unchanged for the 10th consecutive year.

No state cooperation

The slogan of this weekend's Belgrade Celebration parade is "Pride is People," which the organizers chose to remind Serbian society that members of the LGBTQ+ community "are just people who withstand from the same problems as everyone el

LGBTIQ
Serbia: Gays and lesbians “temporarily” declared personae non-gratae

What are the reactions of the Serbian LGBTIQ group to the cancellation? Are people appalled, or perform they resign because discriminatory behaviour on the part of the government has become a habit?

The reaction of the organizers of EuroPride was decisive and responsible – the President of the Republic cannot cancel EuroPride because he did not even plan it. The Pride celebration can only be banned not by a verbal decree of the President, but by a conclusion of the Ministry of the Interior. Organizations and supporters have stated firmly and unequivocally that the walk will take place, regardless of the conclusion of the authorities. I believe this is courageous and the right choice – because this will make the EuroPride a real protest, not just a ceremonial walk.

Are there ways and means to support the Serbian LGBTIQ community in its strife for equal rights and social participation from within the EU and its member states?