For several years now, something has been happening in Belgrade which, back in the day, was considered wishful thinking – a peaceful Pride Parade. Non-traditional sexuality has been perpetually confusing societies in many
countries and polarizing public opinion. Still, it seems that everything is moving towards a more tolerant society. We are talking about this with Goran Miletić, member of the Organizing Committee of Pride Belgrade.
Pride has been postponed and banned for years, in fear of violence. For some years now, it has been functioning more or less good, obviously with the support of the current government. What is the reach of this Pride?
— Pride is certainly a quite particular public gathering and different to all other gatherings. On one hand, it has always been a protest with very clear requirements regarding the improvement of the position of the LGBT+ community. Although there is a misconception that „there are no more problems to solve” in the countries where
the same sex marriage is legalized, the reality is quite different. Pride always presents an opportunity to petition the state authorities to promote respect for the human rights of this community and these are not just empty words. The second part is fun and it is all about expressing a person’s identity in the way they want, without feeling shame or being shy about it. Unfortunately, in the countries where there is pronounced homophobia, conservative circles misuse this fun part to manipulate with the fear of certain citizens who are skeptical of new things. In this respect, Belgrade Pride is the same as any other Pride, and its impact, after all these years, is more than significant. Back in the day, it was impossible to hold Pride without 7,000 policemen or, even worse, Pride was banned. The issue of the LGBT+ community in the society was treated as something exotic, Now, we have a PM who is a lesbian participating
with us in Pride and there are less than 1,000 police officers securing it. We opened the Pride info centre in downtown Belgrade, which works without any problems. Again, this was inconceivable a couple of years ago. The Pride Week comprises of nearly 70 events and they all take place without an incident. Pride pushes the envelope every year, and having government’s support is not a goal in itself but a method.
Some of the eminent members of the LGBTQI community objected to Pride becoming too political and have declined to participate. What is your take on this?
— Pride is an inclusive event and everyone is welcome except those who advocate violence and hatred. The remark that the several activists made was about politicians, representatives of embassies and media participating in Pride. We are never going to exclude authorities because we are asking them to show commitment to improving the position of the LGBT+ community, as well as take concrete steps. Representatives of international organizations and embassies were with us during the years when Pride was banned and to stop these people from participating only because they have the citizenship of another country is plain populism. Everyone who supports the LGBT+ community is welcome to Belgrade Pride. The same group of activists has been trying to organize a counter- Pride in June for several years, but less than 50 people came to this event this year. Nevertheless, Belgrade Pride supports this event and every new public event staged by organizations and groups because one of the goals is for the
members of the LGBT+ community to have the freedom of assembly.
Is the fact that, for the first time ever, we have a formally authorized LGBTQI person heading a state government wind to sails for Pride and the entire community?
— Let’s not confuse the following two things. Firstly, the fact that we have a lesbian as the head of the government would be positive and important news in any world country, let alone in Serbia where over 60% of citizens still belive
that homosexuality is a disease. Of course, some citizens will change their attitude when they have the opportunity to see a person from the LGBT+ community on a daily basis, who is, at the same time, the head of a government (in 2015, only 18% of citizens said that they knew an LGBT person). The PM and her team are very supportive of Pride and this is a big, positive change compared to the previous PM’s. In the latest interview that the PM gave to the eponymous Pride magazine „PONOS“ she speaks about herself, her partner and the problems she has encountered
and this is also a great personal contribution. On the other hand, we cannot expect the Law on Registered Partnerships or the Law on Gender Identity to be passed only because the PM is a member of the LGBT+ community. That depends on the party in power. In cases of violence and discrimination, it is the Prosecutor’s Office
and courts that must react.
Why is this topic so polarizing in the world? Wars can be waged and living standard destroyed, but everybody would still be majorly interested in who sleeps with whom and whether they are with „the right gender“.
— Experts agree that sexuality remains a topic that is still deeply polarizing, but the reason lies in various factors – the influence of religion, tradition, and political decisions in a society. For instance, the introduction of sex education
in schools is a measure that reduces polarization in the society in the long run, but this initiative is always subjected to attacks from conservative circles. However, there is much greater hypocrisy at play in Serbia. While the sexuality
on television is explicit and vulgar, at the same time, there is the diffusion of moral panic because of an annual gathering of a community that does not want to endure violence and discrimination because of their sexual identity.
Unfortunately, people living outside the established model of husband-wife-marriage-children are seen as less valuable.
Is Pride absolutely necessary? Does it help the LGBT+ community to be better accepted, or does it further polarize the society?
— Pride is an event that increases visibility and points to problems. By organizing Pride, members of the LGBT+ community want to show that they are fellow citizens who have the same problems as their neighbours, but also additional problems due to their identity. There is no country in the world where things have improved without first an increase in the visibility of the LGBT community taking place. When we said, some ten years ago, that the ban
would not resolve anything and that media reports about bloodsoaked streets during Pride would become an ugly thing of the past, people told us that Serbia was just like Russia and that staging Pride would be impossible. It turned out that that was not so, and research says that the community is now more accepted in the society and that polarization has diminished. However, the problem is that this change is happening very slowly and the conservative part of the public now uses a new approach that can be summarized in one sentence – “I know a gay person, but they are against Pride and were never attacked.” Of course, a lot of people do not have a problem if nobody knows that they have a different sexual orientation, but is that the kind of society we want? I hope that we have come to a point where everyone should be accepted for what they are, and not be instructed to keep mum about an important part of their personality.
Is this „acceptance“ in essence just formal „sufferance“? Sometimes, it seems that the 1990s were more truthful and tolerant.
— Homosexuality was deemed a criminal offense in Serbia until 1994 and Milošević’s political establishment did not show any understanding of the LGBT+ community. After the abolition of this segment of the law, the arrests formally ceased, but the police continued to harass the members of the LGBT+ community. Affirmative texts in media were an exception. Today, it is not deemed „exotic“ anymore to openly support the LGBT+ community and
there are mechanisms in place for those who want to perpetuate hate speech towards it. That’s why maybe certain parts of society are „suffering“ in the present state of affairs. The situation is much better for people who are not concerned with someone’s identity. You are right about the 1980s and 1990s and back then you could always find gay friendly places in Belgrade and Novi Sad. We were invisible, but we had our own circle of “tolerant” people who accepted us. However, such tolerance was actually the acceptance of the second-rate position. The police could always arrest you, and blackmails were frequent because there was no regulation that would protect you.
In the rest of the world, particularly in the West, the formally homophobic right wing parties are now turning to the LGBTQI community as the defenders of the Western values that include this community too, in opposition to Islamic immigrants who are decidely homophobic. What is the politics’ (both left and right) view of this?
— Yes, that is definitely an interesting phenomenon. Right-wing politicians simply had to say that the arrival of immigrants from Muslim countries would destroy liberal values, especially tolerance towards the LGBT+ community. This incredible U-turn is still in progress and nobody can foresee what will happen next. For now, it does not seem that the majority of the LGBT+ community is too impressed by these attempts.
With the acceptance of the same-sex marriages in the West, did members of the LGBTQI community lose their critical edge? LGBTQI people were once the most progressive social revolutionaries and critics of the establishment, and today we see them as conservative senators and defenders of the general order, just like the straight people. Did the establishment + successfully swallow LGBTQI and was that the goal from the beginning?
— When cooperating with a number of activists from different countries, I was under the impression that there had always been “open issues”, or focus on the LGBT+ movement in countries. In recent years, in some countries, the focus has been on the problems that trans and intersex people are facing, as well as on so-called peer violence in Serbia. I would disagree with you that we no longer have the edge, but the focus has definitely changed. Nevertheless, we must be aware that the world has also changed completely. The waym we used to fight for human rights today is not the same as 20 years ago, social media have brought aboutž major changes, and populism has
become very appealing to a huge number of people.