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Report No. 1 |
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By The Campaign Against Homophobia
January-June, 1998 -
1.1 - Decriminalization of Homosexuality
Until July of 1994, male homosexuality, i.e., a homosexual act between two men in Republic of Serbia (excluding the province of Vojvodina, where homosexuality was not mentioned in the law) was incriminated by the third paragraph of 110. Act of Criminal Statute: "A person guilty of homosexual debauchery will be sentenced up to one year in prison".
It is evident that the voting for repealing this law in Serbian Parliament went through without any public notice. After the decriminalization only a couple of texts and TV and radio coverage appealed in the media, and those texts were only the ones written by the authors activists of Gay and Lesbian Lobby "Arcadia". Ever since its founding in 1991 "Arcadia" lobbed for decriminalization of homosexuality, but no detailed campaign preceded the very repealing of the third paragraph of 110. Act of Criminal Statute of Serbia. As far as we know, this law had never been applied in practice, so it is obvious that it was a threat aimed at organizing of homosexuals and lesbians who wanted to fight for these rights. According to this law - it does not matter that it only incriminated the very sexual act between men - the first demand for registration of Gay and Lesbian Lobby "Arcadia" was denied and "Arcadia", founded n 1991, was registered only in 1994, after the elimination of paragraph 3, act 110, of Serbian Criminal Statute. 1.2. - A Legal-Social Position of Gay Men and Lesbians After the Decriminalization Today homosexuality is not mentioned in any law, nor in the Constitution of Serbia except when the age of consent is concerned: the age of consent for homosexuals is 18 and for heterosexuals 14, which is a legal discrimination against sexual minorities. The status of male homosexual couples in which both partners are younger than 18 is not mentioned in the law. Lesbians are not mentioned in any law of this country, nor have they ever been. Legal exemptions, however, did not much improve practically either legal or social position of homosexual population. Though, officially, homosexuality is decriminalized, in everyday life abolishing of this law did not bring any expirations to gay men and lesbians. Repression of gays and lesbians is felt everywhere: beginning with street bashing, discrimination at work, detention in police because of the so-called "informative" interviews, whose aim is a threat. 1.3. - The Most Present Forms of Homophobia and Discrimination Against Gay Men and Lesbians
A specifically Serbian form of youth gang (akin to skinheads) is active in Serbia under the name of "dizelaši", with the appurtenant looks and methods of violence. They claim to fight "societal decadence" and gather in every bigger town in Serbia. Anyone who happens not to fit their ideal scheme - that of a white heterosexual male of Serbian nationality - is potentially a target of their assault. Theirs are the most vulgar forms of violence. Particularly discriminated are PWAs and HIV+ people. No free HIV testing is available and the one people pay for guarantees 100% privacy. A single hospital unit is available to PWAs, at the Belgrade STD and Tropical Diseases Institute, with miserable conditions (e.g. patients do not even get enough food). Recently, a man died of AIDS outside the hospital, just because the ambulance team refused to treat him upon learning of the nature of his illness. Almost all media in Serbia reported this. The majority of them also carried the news about seven-year old boy who was unable to attend classes in a Belgrade primary school because of protests by his fellow-pupils' parents who learned that the boy was HIV+. In addition to advocating a ban on abortion and overall misogyny, particularly lower clergy of the Serbian Orthodox Church promote homophobia. While not calling for repression of gay men and lesbians, the Patriarch also repeatedly stated that "homosexuals are sick people". All right political parties promote homophobia. The most extreme of them have openly requested that gay men and lesbians be dealt as they were in Nazi Germany. Parties on the left and the center refrain from discussing homosexuality in public, fearing that might compromise their positions. Moreover it is well known they are repressive towards their gay members. With the exception of Gradjanski savez Srbije (Civic Alliance of Serbia), a minor party led by Ms. Vesna Pesic, no political party in Serbia has spoken against discrimination of gay people. (The Civic Alliance of Serbia does list improvements of the position of gay men and lesbians as one of its side issues.) Media speak of gay men and lesbians condescendingly and ridicule them quite openly. Only on a few occasions, in low-circulation press of anti-mainstream policy (editorial and philosophical), did a few articles see light of speaking favorably about this subject. In Serbia today there is not a single paper or broadcast intended specifically for lesbigay population. Lesbians and gay men are discriminated against at their places of work. When their sexual orientation is revealed, they are sacked, possibly reported to the police as well. The military also discriminate against gay men. While no official document states so - in order not to "discredit" the army - a gay man may not be a member of the armed forces. Both draftees (including NCOs) and officers are always discharged from the army if their homosexuality is revealed and "psychological disorder" is entered in their medical record. Contrary to the World Health Organization, Serbia's psychiatry still considers homosexuality an illness. 1.4. - Arches - Individual Cases of Homophobia and Repression of Gay Men and Lesbians Inside Campaign Against Homophobia there has been organized a legal help for homosexuals and lesbians, victims of violence and other forms of repression (Humanitarian Law Fond). Still, homosexuals and lesbians whose rights are endangered rarely dare bringing criminal charges against those who committed violence - for fear of even greater repression. Until now there has been only one criminal charge brought up by a homosexual a victim of violence, Dejan Nebrigi}, a well-known gay activist, who was not endangered by bringing charges because his sexual identity would become public against their will if they brought changes. Therefore, at the meeting of the council and the co-ordination board of Campaign Against Homophobia, it was decided that the archives of individual causes of homophobia and repression of gay men and lesbians should be formed, since the legal acting is made impossible. Forming of the archives began at the beginning of the realization of the Project but it was decided that the archives should include also the events that had taken place before January 1, 1998. Though some of the cases are public-known, we present all cases using initials, for the sake of other gay men and lesbians, victims of violence and repression demanding to stay anonymous. Realizators of Campaign Against Homophobia possess detailed information about the victims' identity. Derided cases have been recorded according to the statements of persons, victims of violence of some other repression and witnesses who appealed to the realizators of Campaign Against Homophobia. All here mentioned cases are documented by the witnesses' statements, that is, by medical certificates. The cases are selected according to the type of repression and homophobia and presented in chronological order. 141 - Violence and Repression of Gay and Lesbian Activists - political repression DETENTION IN POLICE AFTER THE PUBLIC INTERVENSION FOR GAY AND LESBIAN HUMAN RIGHTS: On August, 17, 1992, @.R. (New Belgrade), an activist of "Arcadia", after the speech on homosexuality, on a local Belgrade radio station "Pingvin", was detained in the police station New Belgrade, where he was beaten and verbally humiliated. He was released after a couple of hours, without any material evidence that he had been detained at all. PHYSICAL VIOLENCE AGAINST ACTIVISTS OF LESBIAN GROUP: On December, 15, 1995, in the center of Belgrade - at King Peter Street - activists of women's section of "Arcadia" (now Group for Lesbian Human Rights, "Labrys") were verbally and physically abused by two men, members of the local gang, while they were writing graffiti against discrimination against lesbians. L.M., a famous feminist and lesbian activist was slapped twice and her glasses were broken too. POLICE INTERVENTION AT LESBIAN STUDIES: On January, 15, 1996, in the rooms of Women's Studies Center in Belgrade, there was a lecture "Legal Accepts of Lesbian and Gay existence", held by Ria Convents, a feminist lesbian lawyer from Belgium. After half an hour, two policemen came knocking at the door. An activist of the lesbian section of "Arcadia" did not let them in without a warrant, which they did not have. After a couple of minutes, she was forced to let them in. The police officers said that a woman had come to the police station on Majke Jevrosime Street and complained about the noise and shouts at the address of lesbian studies. The policemen asked the lesbian who had opened the door to show her identity card and made some inquires about the group, registration, apartment, after which the left. They did not use violence. EXTREME HOMOPHOBIA OVER A GAY ACTIVIST: On January 2, 1998, at 11 PM, an unknown young man knocked at the door of a gay activist, D.N. somewhere around Belgrade and shouted: "I'll kill you fagot, open the door!" D.N. ran to his room in order to call the police. At that moment, a short haired young man broke in, broke the telephone, knocked D.N. down and started to kick him. D.N.'s mother, who happened to be in her son's apartment, tried to help D.N. while he was on the floor but the young man hit her too. After that, mother ran to the neighbors and asked them to call the police. Having realized that the police could show up anyway, the attacker ran away thought the broken door. After a couple of minutes, the police came and conducted an investigation. D.N. informed the police about the light injuries and braking in as a form of extreme homophobia over gay and lesbian activists. As far as we know, it is the first case that somebody among gays and lesbians, victims of violence informed the police about the violence being the form of homophobia. Inside Campaign Against Homophobia, criminal charges were brought to the police against the unknown attacker, but the culprit hasn't been found yet. The case was documented with the state of health certificate as well as with the police certificate confirming bringing up charges, and the interesting thing is that the police certificate coupriming trigging charges says that D.N. was "attacked without any reassess", while D.N. stated that it was the act of homophobia. 1.4.2 - Police Repression DETENTION DURING HOMOSEXUAL GATHERINGS, AT THE RAILWAY STATION, PARKS, ETC.: In December 1997, at U{}e, in the park where homosexuals gathered, dr. Dj.^. (Belgrade) was detained in the police. He was taken to the local police station, where he was verbally and physically humiliated for hours. The police officers called him "stinking faggot", "pedophile", etc. and they hit him a couple of times. They let him go, which was usual in these cases, without any evidence on confirmation that he had been detained at all. He was threatened that he would be beaten if he made the case public or spoken to anyone. During giving a statement, dr. Dj.^. has offered legal help inside Campaign Against Homophobia but he refused to bring criminal charges against the police officers - partly because of their threats and partly because, as professor of Belgrade University, he would experience professional discrimination and probably get fired if his homosexual preference was made public. 1.4.3 - Homophobia in Eveready Life and Violence in the Streets SOCIAL AND DOMESTIC REPRESSION OF A GAY YOUNG MAN FROM A PROVINCE: D.M., a gay young man who lived in Be~men (a small town near Belgrade), experienced a multitude of verbal insults and humiliations by local inhabitants, after his homosexuality had been revealed. It went that far as not to let him enter the ice-cream parlor and it happened once that a grocer refused to sell him food. His parents threw him out of the house because they could not stand the pressure and contempt of the neighborhood. VIOLENCE AGAINST A HOMOSEXUAL IN A NIGHTCLUB: In a famous nightclub near Belgrade, on May 29 1998, at 5 am, F.M. was approached by three drunken men. They started to make inquires about his sexual life and premed him to "grab the waitress' ass". F.N. tried to get out of that nightclub but one of the young three men hit him at the entrance. The owner of the club protected F.N. and so, caused injuries were not dangerous. But, the owner refused to call the police "because of the scandal which would discredit the club". At the entrance, while he was seeing F.N. off, the owner "asked" him not to come to the club any more. 1.4.4 - Homophobia in Professional Life DISCRIMINATION AGAINST A LESBIAN IN PROFESSIONAL LIFE: Despite the obligatory four-year contact, I.M. (Pan~evo), a woman goalkeeper of a local handball club, was thrown out of the club she had played in at the end of 1997, when her sexual preference was revealed. Also, after this, I.M. was fired from her job, after her lesbianism had been made known in the lawyer's office she had worked in. 2. Political, Social and Cultural Organizing of Gay Men and Lesbians 2.1 - Forming and Aims of Gay/Lesbian Lobby "Arcadia" As the first gay/lesbian group in the whole area of Serbia, a group for affirmation of gay/lesbian rights and culture, "Arcadia" was founded in January 13, in 1991, when its inaugural assembly was held. At that time, this group mostly gathered persons who participated in public life and lobbied for human and political rights in general with their professional, i.e. political activism. Considering all this, and many other bad conditions for gay/lesbian activism, the main activism of "Arcadia" was lobbying in media and the main aim was decriminalization of homosexuality, i.e., abolishing of the paragraph 3. from Act 110. of the Serbian Criminal low. Other aims of this association are: ending every discrimination in employment, discrimination which is courting to the principles of individual freedom and equality, equalizing age of consent form homosexuals and heterosexuals, equalizing homosexual and heterosexual rights in all institutions, introducing sexual education in schools, based on the latest scientific knowledge. The same-sex preference would be treated as one of the normal forms of expressing human sexuality, stopping treating the same-sex preference as a disease by medicine, psychiatry and psychology, ending patriarchal, male heterosexual domination in society, i.e. the unconditional equality of men and women, getting over the stereotypical sexual role in life and education, ending institutionalized sexual discrimination and division of roles at work and in family, ending harassment and mistreatment of gays and lesbians by the police. We demand that the police and legal protection in cases of physical attacks on homosexuals, robbing homosexuals and we also demand destroying card files of homosexuals who have not done a criminal deed, - revision of domestic legislature according to realizing the right to form marital and non-marital communities, as well as the rights to adopt children, inherit the marital partner's property, pensions, health care, social recognition in all institutions, etc. 2.2 - Actives of "Arcadia" MEDIA LOBBYING: Regarding the fact that it has never had its rooms for work and meetings, as well as even the minimal financial resources, "Arcadia" focused its activities on media lobbying for the rights of homosexuals and lesbians. Its activists often gave interviews, were guests on TV and radio stations, wrote texts for papers, cooperated in the program "Dee Gay", broadcast on Radio B-92. Following the initiative of Dejan Nebrigi}, who was the editor of those magazines in "Pacific", a magazine for culture of peace (Center for Antiwar Action publish), as well as in the publications of women's peace group "Women in Black", gay and lesbian pages were published as a regular column. And following the initiative of Lepa Mladjenovi}, one of the editors of the "Feminist Volumes" (Women's center edition) in those "Volumes" were published lesbian pages - "Loving Another Woman", as a regular column. Activists of "Arcadia" also cooperated in the programs on Radio Pan~evo whose topic was on homosexuality a couple of times, inside right contact programs and programs for young people. (At that time, from 1991-1993, this radio station had an independent editorial policy.) During the political abuse of homosexuality, "Arcadia" publicly protested a couple of times. Those protests were published almost exclusively in independent media: "Vreme", "Republika", Radio B-92, Radio Pan~evo, feminist publications in Belgrade... A PACIFIST-FEMINIST ACTIVISM: Since this group was formed exactly at the beginning of the war and disintegration of SFRY, the first public appearance of "Arcadia" was a circular letter to all gay and lesbian organizations and groups, in which the radicalization of society and militarism were condemned. This letter was published in a great number of foreign gay and lesbian magazines and was very well recurred by gay and lesbian community in the world. Military circumstances were reason for a couple of the most active members of "Arcadia" to focus their activities on pacifist and antimilitary activism, engaging themselves in the Center for Antiwar Action, as well as in other peace and feminist groups, so that they, consequently, had to reduce their gay and lesbian activism. PANELS AND PUBLIC PROTESTS: Because of great homophobia and radicalization of society, "Arcadia" could not completely negate in some activities which should be public - protest meeting, panels, etc. - for fear of the participants being verbally and even physically mistreated. But still, in 1991, for the first time 27 June, International Lesbian and Gay Pride Day was publicly celebrated. There had been organized a panel in Dom omladine in Belgrade, on which a couple of activists of "Arcadia", as well as a couple of theorists of arts, spoke about gay and lesbian activism, June, 27, gay culture and art. The panel made great notice in public and went on without any incident. Following year, considering the war being waged and its influence on the social situation, everything was different. Activists of "Arcadia", together with the Students' protest of '92, on Faculty of Philosophy, tried to organize the panel celebrating the International Gay and Lesbian Pride Day. Just before the beginning of the panel, a group of young men, identifying themselves as students of Theology, physically prevented the participants from entering the hall in which the panel was supposed to be held. Since then, "Arcadia" (and later "Labrys") has been celebrating the International Lesbian and Gay Pride Day with internal workshops and panels held not in public, but the celebration of the Pride Day has always been followed by making an announcement to the public and media lobbying. BULLETIN "ARCADIA": For lack of financial resources "Arcadia" published only two issues of the bulletin. The zero issue, which came out in Summer of 1993, was printed, in both English and Serbian, and the first issue, published in July of 1994, was printed in Serbian, together with a little summary of all texts in English. Only the editorial was completely translated. On the bulletin "Arcadia" there were following topics and columns: Lepa Mladjenovi} wrote in the editorial about the lesbian/gay coming out; activist of "Arcadia" who were in New York at the Pride Day reported on that event; also an activist of "Arcadia" who was in Helsinki at the ILGA conference, wrote about that meeting. Considering the fact that it was the most current theme then, a text about the decriminalization of homosexuality was published. Also, AIDS was one of the most important subjects. In the cultural column short reviews of gay and lesbian books were published, two poems, one chapter of a longer essay by Dejan Nebrigi} on Oscar Wilde, as well as an authentic story about lesbian coming out. Also, in the bulletin "Arcadia" were printed excerpts through a workshop "Homosexuality and Language", held in Women's Studies. And in the end, the poll "What do the inhabitants of Belgrade think about lesbians?" was published. The bulletin was printed in 350 copies, and was financially supported by the private donation of Nancy Solomon, a lesbian activist from San Francisco. OTHER ACTIVITIES AND INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION: Since 1994 "Arcadia" started holding its meetings in the Women's Studies Center's rooms. It was an act of a large public support that "Arcadia" then recurred for the first time and it enabled it to enlarge its activities. Then began the organizing of workshops, beside meetings. The most current were the workshops on violence against lesbians and gay men in the streets. The activists talked about the ways o computing violence in order to develop individual techniques for setting over one's fear of getting out of the logic of a victim which came from the interniorization of the social pressure and hatred towards lesbians and gay men. In October 1994, "Arcadia" conducted a great poll, in the aim of examining lesbophobia and lesbian visibility in Serbian society. The results were confounding, there could be felt hatred from a great number of people as well as from some feminist activists. During 1994, while "Arcadia" was using the rooms of Women's Studies, the same rooms were used by the Project for help of refugees, which having discovered that it shared the same rooms with gays and lesbians, wrote a letter to a coordination board of Women's Studies, demanding instant throwing "Arcadia" out from these rooms, explaining discriminative act was supported by the financier of the project and the chief of Ethic commission of the Serbian Medical Association, but not by the coordination board of Women's Studies. Consequently, "Arcadia" was temporarily forbidden to use those rooms, until the Project for helping refugees found its own rooms. "Arcadia" is a member of International Gay and Lesbian Association ILGA). Its lesbian activists (later activist of Lesbian Rights Group "Labrys") and gay activists participated in the following international meetings: ILGA Eastern Europe, Bratislava, in 1992 ILGA Eastern Europe, Vienna, in 1993 ILGA Eastern Europe, Lithuania, in 1994 ILGA World Conference, New York, in 1995 UN Forth World Conference Women, Peking, in 1995 ILGA Eastern Europe, Ljubljana, in 1996 ILGA World Conference, Sao Paolo, Brazil, in 1996 IGLYO "Let's Get Organized", Conference for East & Central Europe, Budapest, in 1996 La settimana lesbica, lesbian week, Bologna, in 1996 "Lesbians on the Front", Belgium, in 1996 "Lesbians Spring", Stuttgart, in 1997. In June of 1994, in New York, an activist of "Arcadia" (now "Labrys") Lepa Mladjenovi}, received the FELIPE DE SOUZA award. She was given the award for her work and a continuous activity in the right for human rights of lesbians and homosexuals in Serbia. The award was given her by the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) whose main office is in San Francisco, and with its work and activities covers all continents. 2.3 - The Beginning of Organizing of Lesbian Group in Belgrade and its Aims (information used from the report of the Group for Lesbian Rights "Labrys") When there had gathered enough politically interested lesbians in "Arcadia", in March of 1995, the lesbian part of the organization decided to part for a more serious and independent work and formed the Group for Lesbian Rights "Labrys" mostly works trough discussions in workshops and discussions on how to accept oneself. This is a very important beginning because women who join the group have mostly interiored the hatred, fear, vagabond, so that they hardly accept they own wishes, and needs. There is also work directed to acceptance of the lesbian identity, and supporting the autonomy of lesbian identity, and supporting the autonomy of lesbians in their life choices, as well as the work on encouraging the lesbian support and solidarity. The third level is the work on promotion of lesbian rights in society. It involves working in the media, issuing proclamations, giving new laws proposals, lobbying... Beside this, "Labrys" supports the feminist actions for promotion of women's human rights, and as a final aim of its activities it has the abolishing of all forms of discrimination against women, and especially against lesbians. Neither "Arcadia" nor "Labrys" has their own rooms or telephone. "Labrys" uses the rooms of Women's Studies Center in Belgrade for its gatherings and meetings. 2.4 - Activities of the Group for Lesbian Rights "Labrys" REGULAR MEETINGS AND WORKSHOPS: Since 1995, "Labrys" has organized meetings once a week. There, the present lesbians exchange information, talk about the future actions... Once or twice a month there are organized workshops or different topics from the lesbian live, body, identity, problems at work, feminism, coming out, problems in families, lesbian ethics... The aim of the workshops is to empower the lesbians and to support the development of the lesbian identity. PUBLISHING ACTIVITY: Until now four issues of the newspapers "Labrys" have been published. The last two issues were printed in 500 copies. The free newspapers are distributed during women's meetings, seminars and in all other occasions. Also, nine different pamphlets on the group itself and lesbian right have been printed. These pamphlets are distributed to the journalists, public, citizens, feminists and others who are interested in having them. "Labrys" published for books: "Indifferent Woods", in 1995, a collection of poems by Ljiljana @ivkovi}, la novelette "Lady M", in 1995 by Jelena Labrys, and two collections of poems by [tefa Markunova, "@ene u mre`i" and "@ene komete", in 1996. POLLS: So far have three polls been with confounding results of prejudices and hatred towards lesbians. CULTURAL EVENINGS: "Labrys" organized four evenings of lesbian poetry with [tefica Marukunova, as well as the video-projections of documentaries and films with lesbian subject. After the projection which was open for all, women discussions and film analysis are incited. LESBIAN STUDIES: Inside lesbian studies the following lectures have been held so far: Lesbian Existences - Lepa Mladjenovi}, Belgrade Legal Aspects of Lesbian and Gay Movment - Ria Couvents, a woman lawyer, Belgium Lesbian Identity - Ingrid Foeken, a feminist therapist, Holland Lesbian Movement in Belgium - Ria Couvents Internalized Homophobia - Ingrid Foken Registered Partnership - Zorica Mr{evi}, Belgrade THE MOST IMPORTANT INTERNATIONAL MEETINGS: In August, 1995, the Fourth UN World Conference on women was held in Peking, at which three activists of "Labrys" also participated: Lepa Mladjenovi}, Jelica Teodostijevi} and Jelena Labrys. Jelica Teodosijevi}, inside NGO Forum, held the workshop on the topic: "The Network of Lesbians from Eastern Europe", on which the lesbians activists from the whole wold were present. This was an occasion from "Labrys" to meet the delegation of SR Yugoslavia in Peking and openly discuss the lesbian rights in our country. But that meeting never took place because, in 1995, Yugoslavia was excluded from UN. In August 1997, in collaboration with lesbian-feminist group "Cassandra" from Ljubljana, "Labrys" organized the great gathering of lesbian from the states of former Yugoslavia - "Lesbian Rights are Human Rights". There were around 40 lesbians who during from days, exchanges experiences from different dimensions of lesbian lives: lesbian family, lesbian identity, lesbian poetry... 2.5 - Gay and Lesbian (Sub)culture There are not many testimonies about the authentic gay and lesbian (sub)culture in Belgrade and Serbia. It is remarkable that this culture has interwoven with establishment in a very perverted way. Therefore we have, what Ljiljana Djurdjevi}, one of the editors of "ProFemina", called "gay lobby" (in Belgrade culture) but on the other hand in "pure" gay/lesbian events there are elements which, in a typical camp way, that with commercial culture. One of the best examples is the program - "Dee Gay", broadcast on Radio B-92, (almost) every Friday from 1990 to 1993. Lesbian section "Labrys" issued four books that were spoken about in the previous chapter. It is interesting that the works of two gay authors who write in Serbian have appeared so far only in translation, but they could not print the publisher to publish them in the original language. The book SERBIAN DIARIES was published abroad (Gay Press, London) by the pseudonym Boris Davidovich. In the Novi Sad (capital of Vojvodina) magazine in Hungarian "Symoposion", the novel by Dejan Nebrigi} PARIS-NEW YORK - family analysis was published in three parts, and in a couple of next issues ("Symposion" No 009 and No 010) THE LABYRINTH DICTIONARY by the same author was published as well as the text SERETSZ TE ENGEM, BABI? by Miodrag Kojadinovi}, which had previously been printed as the only work of an author born out of USA and Canada, in an antilogy "Best Gay Erotica". "Homoerotic elements" are present also in the theoretical works of Hamdija Demirovi}, published mostly in the magazine "Delo", but also in Hamdija's Demirovi} translation (the whole homoerotic poetry of Walt Whitman, for example). As far as poetry is concerned, NEKA DRUGA LJUBAV (Some Other Love) by Radmilo Djurovi}, as an integral collection of poems, can be called homoerotic. Gay/lesbian culture in other forms of creativity is the most present in the theatre, but again in those establish ones, which is the reason who it cannot be called an authentic product of gay and lesbian creativity. REMARK: Initials of the victims of discrimination mentioned in the Report have been changes in some causes for the sake protection of the identity of those persons.
Lobbying for the emancipation of sexual minorities human rights, realizators of the second part of the project Campaign against homophobia (The European Association of the Young of Serbia, Gay Lobby "Arcadia") have concentrated on public appearance concerning the actual breaching of human rights of gays and lesbians, but also on the sensitivity of the public. Lobbying has been carried out as follows: l.l.- ANNOUNCEMENTS, LETTERS OF PROTEST At the very beginning of the project, regarding the physical assault on gay activist, D.N., Gay lobby "Arcadia" (together with the European Association of the Young of Serbia and Lesbian Rights Group "Labrys") sent to the media a fax which said: "Arcadia": Announces that this act of violence is a form of threatening gay activists and lesbians who work on the affirmation of their rights. Points out that this is one more act of violence in the context of making a radical and fascist society in which those different from the majority- white heterosexual Serbs-are exposed to brutal physical violence. Informs that the homophobic texts encouraging the hatred towards lesbians and homosexuals have the logical continuation in the physical violence, so that this time we also protest against the text published in NIN, l.8.l997, which protects the idea of the Jewish-mason-homosexual conspiracy. Page 28 says: "an activist of Arcadia, a theatre critic Dejan Nebrigic, admitted to a journalist of a Belgrade magazine that it was partly true that homosexuals rule the world, even here in Serbia", which is a direct invitation to lynching of those who are-according to the author of the text-the"enemies of Serbia". Protests against all forms of hatred towards gays and lesbians, those forms of hatred not being reported because of the non-existence of gay and lesbian rights in this country. for "Arcadia": Belgrade gay and lesbian lobby-lepa mladjenovic joining protest: Labrys-Lesbian Rights Group Belgrade Women's Lobby European Association of the Young of Serbia The protest was covered by "Beta"agency, and it also appeared on the Internet edition of Radio B-92, as well as in the daily papers "Danas", "Dnevni telegraf", "DT Plus" and "Blic". It is interesting that the "Blic" covered the whole protest, in the scope of its regular column concerning events in Belgrade, where as all other daily papers (except for "Danas") published the protest in their "black chronicles" usually referring to violence in general. They published only the news about the incident, without any comment, i.e. condemnation of this act. 1.2.-TV-appearances The member of the council of Campaign against Homophobia, Lepa Mladjenovic and the member of the coordination board, Dejan Nebrigic, gave a brief TV interview, at the beginning of February in 1998. The interview was broadcast in the scope of the show "TV Mreza" (produced by TV center and Media center). The interview was re-broadcast also by Studio B on February,11, and it appeared in the show "Homo-sexualis". In this interview Dejan Nebrigic spoke about homophobia and repression of gay men and lesbians in Republic of Serbia as well as about gay and lesbian activism in general and experiences abroad. Lepa Mladjenovic spoke about the lesbian community, as well as the registered partnership of same-sex couples. Thanks to the great number of local TV stations (TV Pancevo, TV Kragujevac, etc.) that also re-broadcast this show, the interview did not escape notice and many other journalists were interested in it as well. 1.3.-Interviews and public statements After these two public appearances for the actual and general lobbying for the rights of sexual minorities, a couple of journalists wanted statements from the realizators of the second part of Campaign against homophobia (as well as from the Lesbian Rights Group "Labrys"). Considering unpleasant experiences with the media that individuals and gay and lesbian activists have had so far, it was decided that, in the scope of the second part of the Project, the realizators selectively gave statements to the journalists, so that there was no a countereffect in the approach to gay and lesbian human rights. From the larger texts in which the realizators of the second part of the project Campaign against Homophobia -as well as the activists of the Lesbian Rights Group "Labrys"-have lobbied for the human rights of gay men and lesbians, we can select the following ones: *In the Saturday issue of the daily papers "Blic" (27-28, December, 1997, page 11) the interview with the member of the council of Campaign, the well-known feminist-lesbian activist, Lepa Mladjenovic, was published. The text was about the general context of lesbian existence in Belgrade, organizing of lesbians, the Lesbian Rights Group "Labrys". There was also the news about the meeting of lesbians from former Yugoslavia, organized by "Labrys", together with the Lesbian Group "Casandra" from Ljubljana. The text, under the title "Women love women differently", was published on the half of the page(in the column "Coverage"), and illustrated with the photographs of the conversationalist, as well as with the sign of Lesbian Rights Group "Labrys" and another lesbian sign. *Lepa Mladjenovic gave an interview to a journalist of "The Belgrade papers". The text was published under the title "The Wall of Silence Broken Down" on February, 2o, l998, page 26. At the beginning of the text, the journalist speaks about gay and lesbian culture in general as well as about the "history of homosexuality". Lepa Mladjenovic spoke about the activities of Gay and Lesbian Lobby "Arcadia" and Lesbian Rights Group "Labrys", also about the political situation in Serbia which is a breeding ground for homophobia. The text was published on the whole page and the most interesting thing is that it was advertized in that very paper. *Dejan Nebrigic and Lepa Mladjenovic gave statements to a contributor of a weekly political magazine "NIN", regarding the working on the draft of a law on domestic relations of Serbia, that is, the possibility of adding to this draft the permission to registered partnership of same-sex couples. The text under the title "Gay Marriages according to the Law" was published on two pages of "NIN" on March, 5, l998, pages 24-25, and it promoted the right of gay men and lesbians to enter into registered partnership. Dejan Nebrigic spoke about the social context of registered partnerships in Republic of Serbia, that is, homophobia, which prohibits entering into these kinds of communities of same-sex couples. Lepa Mladjenovic spoke about the suggestion of the Lesbian Rights Group "Labrys" to legalize registered partnerships, as well as about the experiences from abroad, adoption and establishment of the institution of registered partnerships in the world. Apart from the statements of Dejan Nebrigic and Lepa Mladjenovic, dr Vojin Dimitrijevic, Dasa Duhacek and the psychiatrist Jovan Maric gave their opinions on this matter. Except for the last, all of them had positive attitudes to registered partnerships of same-sex couples. It must be noticed that it is one of the rare texts on that matter which the author (Mirjana Nikolic) wrote without any sensationalism. l.4.-SPECIAL ACTIVITIES Answering the appeal of the research workers from the "Cultural Development Study Institute" who work on the project of studying the work of marginal groups in Belgrade(Gypsies, the disabled, homosexuals), the realizators of Campaign against Homophobia from Gay Lobby "Arcadia" and the European Association of the Young of Serbia, gave the relevant information which enables the more industrious research on the cultural work of gay men and lesbians in Belgrade. The research workers of the Cultural development study institute were given all the relevant data possessed by the realizators of Campaign against Homophobia-texts from the papers gathered in the archives of the Project, books, brochures, etc, which can be relevant for the analysis of the work of gay men and lesbians in Belgrade. The realizators of the second part of the project Campaign against Homophobia think that this research is important for the documentation of the work of gay\lesbian community in Belgrade. Also, this research, after it is published, will make good cultural lobbying in the scope of Campaign against Homophobia. 2. RESULTS OF MONITORING OF MEDIA 2.1.-GENERAL PICTURE Except for a couple of examples-which are the result of the work in the scope the second pare of the project Campaign against Homophobia, that is, lobbying-monitoring in the scope of the first part of the Project showed that homosexuality in media on the territory of Republic of Serbia is still treated as a social, psychological and legal deviation. Homosexuality is being spoken of with scorn, taunt, in a sensational way. Prejudice against gay men and lesbians in society can be seen in the texts, published on that issue. The majority of the texts published in the papers and dealing with homosexuality is a breeding ground for making prejudice against gay population. Some titles of these texts make fun of gay population. This attitude of the mass media towards homosexualism, that is, gay and lesbian population can favor the vindication of violence and other forms of discrimination against this social group. Prejudice against homosexuality and pedophilia is generally supported with some "case from the world". For example, the text "The pedophile affair in Slovenia"("Vecernje novosti", January, 21, page 25), dealing with the pedophile who was in court for raping four boys. The example of this text gives us another prejudice that the media in Republic of Serbia have been supporting for years (it can be seen in the texts gathered in the archives from previous years, starting with 1976). In propaganda war among republics of former Yugoslavia, from the Serbian side, homosexuality was used for making fun of "the Western republics" of former Yugoslavia, Slovenia, in the first place."The Serbian manliness" is opposed to "the vice coming from the West". Texts on the alleged homosexuality of Slovenian prime minister Janez Drnovsek were published very often. "The liberal policy" of the Slovenian establishment regarding the human rights of sexual minorities was severely criticized. There are also texts in which homosexuality is connected with sex scandals ("sex-gate" in America). A well-known member of the leading Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) and a representative in Republic Parliament, Radovan Raka Radovic, says in the daily paper "Demokratija" (February, 2, 1998) that he does not understand why everyone gets excited about Bill Clinton's extramarital affairs "when they can only envy him". There would be a problem only if those "extramarital excursions were with men". The connection of the actual events with homosexuality can be seen also on the example of cloning. It is often presented as the possibility of "homosexual expansion". A couple of times, texts about the famous pop stars' homosexuality were published and they also encouraged prejudice also felt in society against "the homosexuals' easy entrance into elite circles''. Homophobia can also be felt in the context of ''the homosexual conspiracy''in high politics, for example, in a text about homosexuals ''ruling the Russian policy'', or about ''extremely liberal policy'' of the British government on homosexuals and lesbians. One of the most radical homophobes earlier was a painter and a fine arts critic, Dragos Kalajic, who also treated homosexuality in the context of ''the Freemason, Jewish and homosexual conspiracy''. Today his place has been taken by dr Jovo Tosevski who, in his books, especially in ''Skrivena seksualnost''(Hidden Sexuality) (''Papirus'', 1993), helps to inflame hatred for homosexuals and lesbians saying that ''a normal man must hate homosexuals, otherwise his manliness is questioned''. Dr Tosevski said something similar in a text referring to IQ (''NIN'', February, 12, 1998), where his opinion was juxtaposed with that of a feminist psychologist and lesbian activist, Lepa Mladjenovic. In this article, dr Tosevski, answering the question about a great number of homosexuals in an association of very intelligent people, said, apart from everything else: ''This is a population consisted of very successful people, very educated and methodical because one part of their personality is not set right. They possess disturbance of younger men's sexual instinct which represents striving for sexual union with a woman, only with a woman and always with a woman. Instead of turning to their natural instincts, they make social supstitution which usually stands out in successfulness in work. Their instincts are consciously modified, so they, lacking the above mentioned strivings, turn to some other things: education, work...''. Dr Tosevski's homophobia was expressed fully on the night show on TV "Politika'', May, 14, 1998, in which he, ''according to the standpoint of medicine'', spoke about ''homosexual abnormality''and ''expansion''. Some relevant information on serious events on gay and lesbian scene in the world are usually not published. (It is interesting that only the daily paper ''Politika express'', in January 14, 1998, did print the story about the protest of an Italian homosexual against the negative attitude of Vatican towards homosexuality. The man burnt himself down and tried to enter Saint Peter's basilica in Rome. Other daily papers did not mention the news although it had been broadcast by the national news agency TANJUG). There are not many reports on gay and lesbian events in Serbia and all those reports are presented in a sensational way. Declarations and letters of protest of gay and lesbian groups, ''Arcadia" and ''Labrys'' are mostly published in abridged versions so that the whole context is changed depending on the editorial policy of the newspaper. One of the biggest changes is noticed on the pages of the political weekly newspaper ''NIN''. Last year (on August 1, 1997. ''Neither powerful nor marginal''-Zoran Petrovic Pirocanac) in this paper was published one of the most homophobic articles that could ever be found in our press, while this year-thanks to the involvement in making public opinion sensitive in the scope of the project Campaign against Homophobia, Lobby ''Arcadia'' and cooperation with certain journalists of ''NIN''- there appeared articles referring to the important events regarding gay and lesbian existence and policy. This example shows that the work on making public opinion sensitive in the scope of the second part of the project Campaign against Homophobia gives positive results and that it is possible to change the general picture of the media treatment of gay and lesbian existence by campaign work. 2.2.-THE PRESS In the archives, formed in the scope of the first part of the project Campaign against Homophobia, 144 articles referring to homosexuality or mentioning homosexuality in any way have been gathered so far. 86 articles out of that number were published in the territory of Republic of Serbia before January 1 1998, when the realization of the Project began. The Humanitarian Right Fund gathered the articles by using other newspaper archives that were willing to give us copies of their texts. Some texts were also received from not yet completed archives of Gay lobby ''Arcadia'' and the Lesbian Rights Group ''Labrys''. In the period of six months (January - June, 1998) 58 articles from the newspapers were put into the archive, which means that there are, in the territory of Republic of Serbia, in average ten articles published monthly, referring to homosexuality or mentioning homosexuality in any way. During some periods of the realization of the Project, ten daily papers coming out in the territory of Republic of Serbia had been examined: five weekly newspapers, one coming out every two weeks and two literary magazines. There could not be included in our archives absolutely all texts published on homosexuality from January 1 till June 3, in 1998.The texts gathered in the archives make two thirds out of the total of texts published on that topic. However, the realizators think that the most relevant and representative ones have been included in the archives. From January till June 1998. ten daily papers, seven weekly papers and two literary magazines have been examined. We found the following texts on homosexuality:
In the examined press, 58 articles on homosexuality appeared. 2.3.-ELECTRONIC MEDIA In the scope of the project proposal Campaign against homophobia there was not supposed to be the monitoring of electronic media. Because of the great number of TV channels and radio stations, the complete monitoring would demand huge financial resources, so that it was decided that electronic media should be followed on the principle of a chance sample. There were recorded coverage and shows on homosexuality in which spoke the realizators of the Project, in the scope of its second part- making the public opinion sensitive. From the beginning of 1998., some movies on the topic of homosexuality were shown on a couple of TV stations. These movies were recorded in the bibliography of texts, through the TV announcements in the papers. Other coverage and shows in electronic media in which homosexuality is mentioned or directly refereed to, from January, 1998, are the following:
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