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Belgrade Gay Pride Set for October
 

BELGRADE, September 7, 2010  –  Details of the planned Belgrade Gay Pride, to be staged in the Serbian capital on October 10, were revealed today at a press conference.

The parade, which will have the slogan “Let’s Walk Together”, will start from Manjež Park, and go down Nemanja, Knez Miloš and Masaryk streets, ending with a party at the Students’ Cultural Center.

And organisers called on the authorities to protect participants from the homophobic thugs that marred the 2001 Pride, the last one held in the city.  Last year, the authorities indicated that they could not guarantee safety and the Parade was called-off by the organisers hours before the event.

Taking into account the security conditions and the symbolism of this year’s Parade, organisers have chosen the location of a meeting place and the route itself in the centre of Belgrade where a number of state institutions are concentrated – such as the Serbian Government, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Health, Court of Appeal, the Constitutional Court, Ministry of Finance and others.

At today’s press conference – which was attended by many media representatives and guests from LGBT and other non-governmental organizations, international organizations, embassies, government institutions and political parties – members of Pride Parade Organisational Committee spoke about the Pride:

This year’s Pride Parade is organised by Gay Straight Alliance (GSA) and Queeria center for the promotion of culture of nonviolence and equality, with the support and assistance of the Group for Support of Gay Men from Novi Sad, friends from the LGBT community, as well as numerous other groups.

“[We] see Pride Parade 2010 as an inclusive event, as a peaceful and non-violent public gathering which will show that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) persons in Serbia can freely and without fear walk the streets of Belgrade with the support of their relatives, friends, associates and all those who advocate equality, tolerance and respect for human rights,” a committee spokesperson told UK Gay News.

“We do not see the Parade as our ultimate goal but as a means by which we will draw attention of the society to the problems which LGBT population in Serbia is facing on a daily basis, and to demand from the state to deal systematically with violence and discrimination.”

In addition to the Pride Parade, there will be a week-long “Pride Week”, which will include exhibitions, debates and performances, which are aimed at the LGBT community.

Belgrade Pride Parade 2010 will be promoted in other Serbian cities, including Novi Sad, Nis, Zrenjanin and Becej, with panels and related promotional events.

Belgrade Pride: A Chance to Set the Fight for Gay Rights at a New Level.  Commentary by Nikolai Alekseev.  Last Saturday morning, I flew to Belgrade confident that there will be a gay pride authorised and protected by the local authorities.  (UK Gay News, Sept 26, 2009)

Gay American Avoids Belgrade Thugs in City Street.  The chairperson of InterPride’s committee on International LGBTI Human and Civil Rights spoke today of how he was followed on the streets of  central Belgrade yesterday evening and how it brought home to him just how Serbian society had to  live “in a constant state of fear of thugs”.  Openly gay William Urich, who was attending Belgrade Pride as an official “observer” for InterPride, told UK Gay News that he decided to go out and explore the downtown area around 6pm.  (UK Gay News, Sept 21, 2009)

Belgrade Gay Pride Off, But Sweden Hosts ‘Mini-Pride’ at Ambassador’s Residence.  There was not a gay person, let alone a banner, in sight in the square in front of the Faculty of Philosophy in Belgrade city centre at lunchtime on Sunday.  The Gay Pride Parade had been banned by officialdom, or cancelled by the organisers, depending on which ‘spin’ one subscribes to.  (UK Gay News, Sept 21, 2009)

Belgrade Gay Pride Cancelled 24 Hours Before Event Because of “Security Concerns”.   Nikolai Baev, a co-organiser of Moscow Pride, arrived in Belgrade at lunchtime looking forward to taking part in his very first Pride march.  But when he got to his hotel his excitement turned to sorrow when he learned that tomorrow’s Belgrade Pride march had been suddenly cancelled by the organisers when the Serbian Government announced this morning that the parade in the city centre could not go ahead but offered an alternative location in the suburbs.  (UK Gay News, Sept 19, 2009)

European Union Presidency Expresses Support for Belgrade Gay Pride.   Sweden, which currently holds the presidency of the European Union, has today expressed its support for Belgrade’s Gay Pride, due to be held on Sunday (September 20).  (UK Gay News, Sept 17, 2009)

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