Serbia Gays Throw Mini Pride Parades
About 40 gay and lesbian activists threw rainbow coloured balloons into the air on Wednesday and held what they called a mini-Gay Pride Parade in Belgrade, some women holding banners that read: “I cannot kiss my girlfriend.”
Boban Stankovic of Belgrade Pride said the motto of the manifestation was “Silence will not stop us”, a referrence to the daily restrictions placed on gay people in homophobic Serbia.
Another event entitled “A Demonstration by LGBT dolls” was held in central Belgrade on Tuesday evening.
A number of cardboard dolls were placed in the central Republike Square holding banners that read: “We do not seek special rights,” “Meet me before you start hating me,” and “Proud to be there.”
During the three-hour event, activists from the Gay Straight Alliance, the organizers, stood behind stands and chatted with people, handing out brochures and other materials as music played through a sound system.
The lesbian community in the northern city of Novi Sad joined the Pride celebration with a street event of their own in the city entitled “Lesbians wish you a nice day” in the downtown area on Wednesday.
The first Gay Pride marches took place in on June 28 in 1970 in the US, in Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York, commemorating the first anniversary of the so-called Stonewall riots, when homosexuals in New York fought back against the police for the first time.
When the New York police attempted a raid on the Stonewall bar, the local patrons rioted rather than submit passively to arrest.
Since then, Gay Pride events have been held annually throughout the world toward the end of June to mark the riots.
After last year’s planned parade in Serbia had to be called off following right-wing threats of violence, Serbian gay rights activists are hoping for better luck in 2012.
They are busy preparing for this year’s Belgrade Pride Parade, which will be held as a festival of LGBT civic rights under the slogan Love, Faith, Hope from September 30 to October 7.
The Belgrade-based Labris organisation, which advocates for homosexuals, says the position of the gay population is improving slowly but surely, primarily thanks to the actions of young LGBT activists.
“The rights of the LGBT population are discussed in public, at schools and faculties, and this is good for young gay people because they know they belong somewhere, which is important for their pride,” said Bojana Ivkovic, of the Pride Parade organisation.
But Nevena Petrusic, Serbian Commissioner for Protection of Equality, says the community is still subject to discrimination, attacks and hate speech, and that Serbia has a lot to do in order to eliminate prejudice and promote tolerance and equality.
Facts bear this out. According to recent research, most Serbs feel more distance toward gay persons than they do even towards the widely disliked Albanians.
Only 26 per cent of those interviewed believe that the state should protect the rights of the gay population, while 62 per cent do not share this opinion.
