Gays cannot walk around openly in Belgrade

The Gay Pride parade in Belgrade was called off because authorities said they would not be able to protect the participants against the large numbers of hooligans and nationalist extremists who announced they planned to disrupt the parade with violence.

Two weeks ago Majda Puaca sounded full of confidence: "The security plans are on a military level," one of the organisers of the Gay Pride parade in the Serbian capital of Belgrade said. Intensive talks were held with the police for months. Evacuation routes were mapped out. Instructions for how participants could get to the city centre safely – ‘don’t use narrow alleyways, don’t go in large groups, look inconspicuous' - had been emailed to people.

But on the Sunday the gay rights demonstration should have taken place, Puaca was sitting frustrated in the office of a Serbian human rights organisation. The building was guarded by the police. ‘Belgrade Pride 2009’ was called off at the last minute. The authorities said they would not be able to protect the participants against the large numbers of hooligans and nationalist extremists who announced they planned to disrupt the parade with violence. "Were not willing to protect," in Puaca's opinion. She described how four days ago the tone in the talks suddenly changed.

Grand statements

While the president and home affairs minister still appeared on television making grand statements about the ban on discrimination and the equality of citizens, the officials in dialogue with the parade organisers acted as if the agreements made earlier did not exist. The government was only willing to allow the parade to go ahead if it was moved to a sparsely developed district outside the city centre. And that is directly opposed to the philosophy behind Gay Pride, said Puaca, namely that a marginalised group is visible in the heart of the city for once.

Many hooligans were also expected. The police were shocked at the violence before the Europa league football match between local Partizan and French Toulouse on Thursday. One French fan is still in hospital with serious injuries.

Rediscovered national identity

Gays and lesbians are virtually invisible in Serbia. Few people dare to publicly come out of the closet, for fear that they will lose their job, be unable to rent an apartment as a gay couple or be cut off from family. Puaca is one of ten activists who are deliberately open about their sexual orientation. There are still no Serbian celebrities who have dared to be openly gay.

The first attempt to organise a Gay Pride event in Belgrade, in 2001, was a disaster. Even before the activists were able to meet up as a group, they were attacked and a number of people were injured.

"Much has improved since then," said Dusana Nikolic. She was there eight years ago and saw a friend get beaten up. Discrimination has recently been banned by law. The activists were personally invited to a meeting with the prime minister. "Now the police are at least saying openly ‘we are trying to protect you, but it isn’t working.’ In 2001 they just weren’t there."

But according to Puaca, gays continue to "arouse hate in this country, more than any other group." She attributes this to the recent wars, which prompted a need for the country to rediscover its national identity. "And that identity is patriarchal, heterosexual and religious."

Publish photos on the internet

The extreme right is given full rein in the Serbian media. Church leaders speak out against homosexuality in disgust. Even the director of the local zoo was allowed to vent his gall about the demonstration: "Today it will be gays on parade, next week it will be a parade of necrophiliacs."

Walls in the city centre had been spray-painted with the tags of hooligans and extreme nationalistic organisations like Obraz (Honour) and ‘1389’ (a reference to the Battle of Kosovo in which efforts to beat the Turks failed). Football hooligans forged plans on the internet for the battle with the police. In the week before the parade was to take place, embassies sent text messages to fellow countrymen advising them to stay away from the city centre.

Around the fountain near the philosophy faculty, where the demonstration would have been held, some fifty young men were hanging around on Sunday morning. A man explained in front of the camera for a small Serbian television station that the "spread of homosexuality is a threat to the future of the Serbian people, because homosexuals cannot have children." The young men were not interested in explaining why they had gathered. "It's a nice day. We are just out here for a walk." The men didn't seem to carry weapons, but they did have cameras. ‘1389’ had announced it would publish photos of gays on the internet, in order to "help parents protect their children against sexual deviants." The police arrested 46 right-wing extremists on Sunday, some for illegally carrying weapons.