Another Gay Pride Attempt in Belgrade
Gay Pride parade in Belgrade has been scheduled for 10th of October 2010 this time (10-10-10). (Official site of the parade)
Are you going to attend this protest walk? Leave a comment.
There has already been two attempts to organize a gay parade in Belgrade and both of them failed because the police couldn’t guarantee participants’ safety when faced with threats coming from the nationalists.
We could discuss who’s to blame for this, but to me it seems that the Serbian state and its politicians are to blame most for this—for promoting nationalism in public discourse in every given opportunity over the past 20 years. So now, this is what you get – a country full of nationalists, that is admittedly very easy to control, but not very good for citizens’ mental and physical health.
Good thing is, this discourse also began to change. In the last several years we have had a lot of positive initiatives – campaigns for more women in politics, employment quotas for people with disabilities, inclusion in schools, prioritizing minorities etc.
But all these initiatives are still in their infancy and still very weak in comparison to how deeply rooted the nationalism is.
Not to repeat what my stands are on the issue of gay rights, I give you links to some of the previous posts discussing this subject:
Top ten features of Serbian homophobia
Mayor of Belgrade against Belgrade pride
Tweet
Another Gay Pride Parade cancelled in Belgrade
Red Star – Partizan Footbal Derby coming up
Belgrade Gay Pride Parade 2010 – news, live coverage, opinions, aftermath
Serbian ESC 2010: Milan Stankovic + Goran Bregovic = Gay Balkans
I see you didn’t name it but it’s pretty lame that the photo is captioned ‘serbian nationalist graffiti’, that’s our coat of arms, and if a bunch of nationalist scum is using it doesn’t make it nationalist, it’s a bit insulting.
You seem to promote the Gay Pride parade, yet you were the one who was making fun and a big deal of alleged gayness over Serbia’s Eurovision entry. So you seem like the hypocrite. Besides I believe it is a false accusation on your part the Goran Bregovic and Milan Stankovic are gay.
You are really full of double standards. I guess anything to put Serbia down. Only if it is something copied from the west or some western-supported theme is it okay for you I guess. So because these gay parades are a product of the west, then shame on Serbs for saying abuses things about it.
But if a Serb appears gay to you or has a gay style and isn’t backed by or a part of a western project/NGO in Serbia then you are all for the bashing.
Woah ida, there is a great deal of difference between mocking alleged or not gayness and defending basic civil rights.
To illustrate this to you – it’s OK to think that Milan Stankovic is a funny little gayboy and it’s also OK to think that every citizen of Serbia has (to have) the right to freely express themselves on the streets.
That’s an important distinction, try and read it a few times till it sinks in.
Vukasin, I didn’t name the photo but I do agree with the author that the graffitti is nationalistic. I’d say that if a bunch of nationalists use it, it’s probably nationalistic.
Ida, you have good memory. I did mention that Milan looks like a gay, but I think it was someone else in the comments that made fun of him, not me. But there’s one interesting phenomenon now that you mention hypocrisy. I find it very strange that a state with such a negative views towards gays decides to send gay-ish singers to the Eurosong contest just because we think it increases their chances of winning. I am referring to Marija Serifovic and Milan Stankovic. In that regard i find it legitimate to mock someone for trying to look gay only to achieve a certain goal.
Wait a minute – if most or all nationalists use the flag is that nationalistic too?
Well I guess the context is important too. But there are some symbols that became sort of ‘kidnapped’ or taken over by the nationalists so that they lost their original meaning. Swastika could be the most obvious and extreme example of this.
It’s an interesting subject.
Also, one could argue that a flag is a nationalistic symbol by default in case where one doesn’t consider nationalism to be a negative phenomena. But than again, maybe nationalism itself got a bad rep exactly because of the nationalists’ behavior, ie the original meaning got ‘kidnapped’ just like it happened with communism
Guardian also has an article about the upcoming gay parade.
Nationalists? Gay parade is not a new thing i guess! Could there be a free world?
Oh, ida. There you are again, with your ever-vigilant, hyper-nationalist claptrap.
Are you going to start raving again about how being gay causes cancer? Or maybe you’d like to start in on how Victor Fehrenbach, a gay pilot from the US, flew flights during the NATO bombing?
You really are pathetic.
.... and gay