Tom and Jerry in Belgrade: An update from the Gay Pride

One of the lesbians from Kosovo who is present these days in Belgrade for the Gay Pride shares a serious concern with me. She puts humor in her words while talking to me, but she confesses that if she would be in the middle of the violence during Saturday when the pride march is scheduled, no one in Serbia might recognize her health insurance issued in Kosovo. I believe her!

 

We were obligated to travel from Tirana, to Kosovo and than to Macedonia, and finally cross the border to Serbia. If we were going to travel in Serbia through Kosovo they would have forced us to go back, because Serbia does not recognize the border stamps of Kosovo.  

 

I realize for the first time, while smoking with her in front of the Media Center in Belgrade were most of the LGBTIQ events will take place, that I stand in the middle of a political cyclone, caused by two big issues here: The Gay Pride first, and what should be the policy of the new government towards Kosovo, secondly. 

 

The big debate for Kosovo is quite old now in Belgrade, but it seems to me that the Gay Pride’s debate is also becoming old in this city used to be considered as the most multicultural in the Balkans. Last year the pride was banned, one year before it, at least 6,000 holigans attacked and seriously injured hundreds of activists and policemen, while on 2009 The Constitutional Court published a very absurd ruling: They tried to argue that the pride was banned, not organized and so, no one can prove that there was discrimination (unless no one saw anyone attacked!). This ruling is in the appeal process right now. While only few days remains till the scheduled gay pride in Belgrade, I am finally convinced that is already decided to repeat the same story: To ban the pride, although the politics here is under a highly European pressure this year (Serbia was recently “awarded” with the candidate status in EU).

 

But only 24 hours ago the President Nikolic stated that, at the end, there is no need to hurry up into EU. His words were: “Ten years of running has brought Serbia to the verge of poverty. Now we are going to start thinking about ourselves a little. We have friends all over the place, let them compete who will help Serbia,” the president said. Then, he stressed: “We belong to a great world family of the peoples, we want to belong to the European family as well. They know us well and what we can fulfill and what we cannot. We would feel like a terminally ill man in a luxurious palace without Kosovo and Metohija,”.   

 

From the other side, the Prime Minister Ivica Dacic who is also the minister in charge for Internal Affairs was much more concrete today when he said that “the issue (The Gay Pride) at hand did not concern human rights, but security”. According to B92 Radio, he further told that he had asked the security services to give their appraisal regarding the holding of the parade as well as the other gatherings announced for the same day, and revealed that the answer he received was that the risk was "high".

 

He also accused organizers of the parade, "and other associations that are against it", of "acting irresponsibly", referring to a cultural event planned for October 3rd when a known photographer from Sweden, Elisabeth Ohlson Wallin, will present religion in a more actual (or call it “modern”) perception.

 

He was much more himself and sincere when he added today: "If there will be content (during Belgrade Pride Week) that associates Jesus Christ with homosexuals, I don’t know how that will help with everything going peacefully". According to reports he even "recalled the protests in Muslim countries caused by the film about Mohammad".  

 

The one million question should be: So, if this is the big issue, why are they not thinking to ban the cultural exhibition, but exactly the Gay Pride?!

 

It is much more honest from their part (politics) to clearly stand against the right of assembly for LGBT community, rather than to suffer so much in order to find a justification, that at the end, seems stupid and insane. Yes, there is an old problem with the mentality, not of the country, but with the mentality of its politicians. Because, it is simple to understand: They never change…