After Four Years, Serbian Gay Pride Parade Returns

On Sunday, September 28, Serbia hosted its first Gay Pride parade in four years in the capital of Belgrade. There were about 1,000 gay activists and supporters in attendance, not only from Serbia but also from across the former Yugoslavia, Greece, Italy, Germany, and even Canada. But even more notable were the 5,000 policemen there to provide security, creating an incredible ratio of five officers to every one demonstrator.

Though part of their job was crowd control, the main reason they were there was to protect the protesters from possible violence from far-right and ultra-nationalist homophobic groups. One such group is Dveri, which held an anti-gay counter-march in Belgrade the day before the parade. The event was heavily secured by police and no major incidents occurred.

The government had cancelled the Gay Pride parade every year since the violence that erupted during the 2010 parade. Rioters from anti-gay organizations had fired shots and thrown petrol bombs at the pro-Western Democratic party’s headquarters and had shattered the windows of other political parties’ headquarters as well. The protesters of the march threw bricks, stones, firecrackers, and other objects at riot police, shouting “Death to homosexuals!” They even hijacked a bus and pushed it down a steep street where it crashed into an electric pole. 57 people were injured, 47 of whom were policemen.

The march on Sunday was the first peaceful pro-LGBTQA demonstration in Serbia in over a decade. Only minor disturbances were reported this year, including 50 people stoning a police cordon meant to prevent them from getting near the protesters and another group throwing firebombs at a local television broadcaster. Three people in total were slightly injured, while 50 people were brought in for questioning both before and during the parade.

Though the parade was generally peaceful, the situation for members of the LGBTQA community in Serbia is still deplorable. Many foreign participants in the parade revealed that they had travelled all the way to Belgrade specifically because they had heard how terrible the situation was there. A survey given four years ago in Serbia showed that two-thirds of respondents viewed homosexuality as a disease. A huge component of this intolerance is that the prevalent Serbian Orthodox Church severely condemns homosexuality and considers it a sin. The head of the church, Patriarch Irinej, has called homosexuality immoral and has even compared it to incest and pedophilia. Since most Serbians identify with the Serbian Orthodox religion, the society as a whole is still quite conservative and finding it difficult to oppose the church’s views on homosexuality.

The reason that the Serbian government allowed the parade to go on at all, despite their worries about security risks, is that officials want to show increasing human rights tolerance in the country as Serbia attempts to join the European Union. The EU has made it clear that it sees gay pride as a test of the country’s commitment to the protection of human rights, one of the requirements for entering the EU. Conservative Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić was not in attendance, though his brother was beaten back by riot police when he attempted to pass through a cordon despite being warned. However, Belgrade mayor Siniša Mali and several Serbian ministers participated in the march, though it is unclear whether they actually support LGBTQA rights or whether they are simply trying to make Brussels happy. Mali was quoted as saying: "This [march] is testimony to the fact that in Belgrade everyone is equal," a statement undoubtedly directed at the European Union and possibly at EU delegation chief, Michael Davenport, who was at the parade. Davenport seemed impressed by the event, remarking that it sent a "very positive and strong message." A number of other foreign diplomats, including U. S. Ambassador to Serbia, Michael Kirby, walked in the parade. Kirby was distressed by the amount of policemen at the event, but he was hopeful that in time that ratio would change.

As Serbia continues to attempt reforms in order to gain membership in the European Union, tolerance for the LGBTQA community (at least externally) will likely grow. Though not the best reason to support the gay community, attempts of external tolerance aimed at the EU will hopefully lead to a real internal change in Serbian society’s views of the LGBTQA community. The tension between the Serbian Orthodox church and pro-European Union government officials will rise in the coming years, and the Serbian people will have to choose between religious tradition and future prosperity alongside their European neighbors.