Ana Brnabić: 'I do not want to be brand Serbia's gay PM' | Serbia | The Guardian

Contents:

• SERBIA TO HAVE FIRST GAY PRIME MISTER AS ANA BRNABIC IS CHOSEN
• SERBIA PRI: GAY PM BRNABIC 'NOT WANTED' AT PARA
• ANA BRNABIC: GAY PARTNER OF SERBIAN PM GIV BIRTH
• SERBIA GETS S FIRST FEMALE – AND GAY – PRIME MISTER
• ANA BRNABIć: 'I DO NOT WANT TO BE BRAND SERBIA'S GAY PM'
• SERBIA'S GAY PM IS FIRST REGN TO ATTEND PRI PARA
• HOMOPHOBIA SERBIA: 'I WAS ABED FOR BEG GAY'
• SERBIA'S FIRST OPENLY GAY PRIME MISTER ATTENDS BELGRA PRI MARCH
• SERBIA’S FIRST GAY PREMIER GETS SEND TERM AFTER LANDSLI W
• SERBIA GETS ITS FIRST FEMALE, AND FIRST OPENLY GAY, PREMIER
• SERBIA'S OPENLY GAY PRIME MISTER, PARTNER WELE BABY BOY
• LATVIA BE 7TH NATN TO BE LED BY AN OPENLY GAY HEAD OF STATE
• SERBIA APPOTS FIRST GAY AND FEMALE PRIME MISTER

SERBIA TO HAVE FIRST GAY PRIME MISTER AS ANA BRNABIC IS CHOSEN

Image source, RtersImage ptn, Ms Brnabic prevly served as public admistratn and lol ernment misterThe print of Serbia has nomated a gay woman to be his prime mister a double first for the eply nservative Balkan Brnabic was chosen by the new Print, Aleksandar Vucic. Ms Brnabic is not only Serbia's first openly gay PM, but also the first woman that post. "I believe that Brnabic has profsnal and personal quali to be prime mister, " Mr Vucic told ma no mentn of her this evince of a profound change attus to homosexualy?

SERBIA PRI: GAY PM BRNABIC 'NOT WANTED' AT PARA

The symbolism of the appotment is real, but agast a backdrop of graed and staed antipathy towards homosexualy.

It may be more of a harbger of change than evince that change has already rearch 2015 found that almost half s officers agreed wh the statement "homosexualy is an illns that should be treated", reports the BBC's Guy De Lney Belgra. They mean gay people face discrimatn and threats to their physil safety.

ANA BRNABIC: GAY PARTNER OF SERBIAN PM GIV BIRTH

Belgra's Gay Pri march was banned for three years succsn on grounds of public safety after far-right protters attacked the event was revived 2014 amid huge secury, cludg special forc and armoured sce then, civil society anisatns have reported that some dividuals takg part have lost jobs as a source, AFPImage ptn, Hostily to the 2010 gay pri march Belgra led to vlence, after which the event was ncelled for several yearsImage source, AFPImage ptn, Advanc have been ma to protect gay people unr Serbian law, but homophobia remas rifeWhy is Serbia socially nservative?

SERBIA GETS S FIRST FEMALE – AND GAY – PRIME MISTER

"On acceptg the nomatn to bee prime mister, she said she would be workg on goals "that are bigger and more important than all of dividually" Brnabic will jo a small number of gay prime misters to lead ernments Europe, cludg Leo Varadkar the Republic of Ireland and Xavier Bettel Luxembourg. Iceland had an openly gay prime mister, Johanna Sigurdardottir, 2009-2013. Image source, Getty ImagImage ptn, Ana Brnabic is the first gay head of ernment a Balkan untryIt's the only Balkan untry to have an openly gay prime mister - so why are some of Serbia's LGBT activists termed to keep PM Ana Brnabic away om Gay Pri?

ANA BRNABIć: 'I DO NOT WANT TO BE BRAND SERBIA'S GAY PM'

But one year on, progrs is snt: LGBT rights have not improved, new laws are still far om beg adopted and there has been no fall the number of attacks on gay largely nservative Orthodox Christian Serbia, a ndidate for EU membership, discrimatn and vlence agast the LGBT muny are wispread.

Two gay Pris, one gay PM and no end to problemsAhead of 2018 Pri, a group of activists disappoted wh the slow pace of reforms lnched a mpaign lled "Say no".

Ms Brnabic is the ma foc of their mpaign, bee her "work on strengtheng LGBT rights has been disappotg, " said a statement om the anisatn behd the mpaign, source, Getty ImagImage ptn, The first peaceful Belgra Pri happened 2014, but anti-gay protters also took to the streetsSpeakg at the 2017 para, Ms Brnabic said that LGBT rights would be addrsed only after important problems such as flatn, pensns and the standard of livg had been rolved. Unhappy wh the efforts of other gay activists, Mr Azjkovic started another para June.

SERBIA'S GAY PM IS FIRST REGN TO ATTEND PRI PARA

Its goal is to "brg the gay march back to ordary people and away om policians". "They say: 'You have a gay prime mister, two paras, you should be ntent'.

For Serbia's LGBT muny, everyday life is still marred by wispread homophobia: a survey by the regnal ERA anisatn showed that every fifth gay uple Belgra gets rejected when tryg to rent a suatn is even gloomier outsi the pal, activists ernment has adopted the Law agast Discrimatn but s rarely e to jtice.

HOMOPHOBIA SERBIA: 'I WAS ABED FOR BEG GAY'

Another survey done by ERA showed that 90% of people Serbia are agast givg LGBT upl the right to adopt, while about 70% are agast gay upl herg a partner's belonggs after ath. Same-sex marriage is still illegal historyImage source, AFPImage ptn, Around 100 people were jured when anti-gay protters clashed wh police durg Belgra Pri 2010Serbia's first Pri para 2001 end vlence when hundreds of hooligans and extremists attacked a peaceful march spe a heavy police 2010, about 100 people were jured when that year's march was also attacked central Belgra. "Image source, Getty ImagImage ptn, For Serbia's LGBT muny, everyday life is still marred by wi-spread homophobiaTalkg to Belgra's Pri magaze, Ms Brnabic said that not supportg the gay march would be hypocril.

SERBIA'S FIRST OPENLY GAY PRIME MISTER ATTENDS BELGRA PRI MARCH

"Policians have to be part of the para and send the msage that 'gay is ok', " Mr Miletic told the BBC.

SERBIA’S FIRST GAY PREMIER GETS SEND TERM AFTER LANDSLI W

Image source, Getty ImagImage ptn, Ana Brnabic has been cricised by LGBT activists for not dog enough to fend gay rights the untry. Serbian Prime Mister Ana Brnabic's gay partner has given birth what the PM's office said was a first for a world lear.

A statement said the birth mother, Mili Djurdjic, and baby, reportedly a boy named Igor, were "dog fe" Brnabic, 43, beme both Serbia's first female and first gay prime mister June appotment was seen as a surprise move for the Balkan natn where same-sex marriage is not regnised. She and Ms Brnabic met at a gay bar the pal, is socially nservative and homophobia is mon.

The untry's nstutn explicly f marriage as beg between a man and a woman, and gay civil partnerships are not officially upl are also barred om adoptg children, though sgle people n adopt regardls of their sexual has several laws place to tackle discrimatn, equaly and hate speech, but activists argue that not enough is beg done to expand the rights or enforce them. Crics have spoken out agast Ms Brnabic, argug that she has not done enough to bolster LGBT a Gay Pri para Belgra 2017, she refed to say if she would like to see same-sex marriage legalised on this story. A gay woman has been appoted prime mister of Serbia a double first for the EU-ndidate Brnabić, 41, a graduate of the Universy of Hull England, is the Balkan natn’s first gay PM and first female PM.

SERBIA GETS ITS FIRST FEMALE, AND FIRST OPENLY GAY, PREMIER

Brnabić’s appotment, which the same week that Leo Varadkar was formally elected as Ireland’s first gay PM, is all the more remarkable given that vilent homophobia is still wispread the Serbian print, Aleksandar Vučić, announced on Thursday eveng that he was givg Brnabić, a non-party technocrat, the mandate to form a new ernment, scribg her as “hard-workg, [wh] profsnal and personal quali”, the Serbian news agency B92 reported.

SERBIA'S OPENLY GAY PRIME MISTER, PARTNER WELE BABY BOY

Brnabić entered polics jt last year when she beme Serbia’s first openly gay mister, headg the mistry for public admistratn and lol self-ernment.

She studied the US and graduated Hull wh a marketg MBA 2001, before returng to Serbia to work the wd power dtry and then for US-fund velopment Miletić, a civil rights activist and Belgra Pri aniser, said: “Even some wtern untri would be big news and a posive signal if a gay or lbian person beme prime mister or mister.

It is even more important for a untry where 65% believe that homosexualy is an illns and 78% thk that homosexualy should not be exprsed outsi hom.

LATVIA BE 7TH NATN TO BE LED BY AN OPENLY GAY HEAD OF STATE

Vlence and discrimatn are wispread and reurse to jtice after homophobic attacks limed by social stigma. The appotment of Ana Brnabić as Serbia’s prime mister aged 41 was acpanied by the sound of glass ceilgs beg shattered all around only is she the first woman to take on the role, Brnabić is gay and has achieved high office whout beg a member of a polil her first terview to a foreign newspaper after a month the job, she said: “Serbia is changg and changg fast, and if you will, I am part of that change, but I do not want to be brand ‘Serbia’s gay PM’. Although as a gay Serbian cizen she nnot marry, Brnabić said she did not plan to ph LGBT legal reforms at this stage.

SERBIA APPOTS FIRST GAY AND FEMALE PRIME MISTER

“I don’t thk Serbia is that homophobic. Media ptn, Ana Brnabic mgled wh the crowds at the march BelgraThe prime mister of Serbia has bee the first head of ernment a Balkan untry to take part a gay pri Brnabic is the first gay person, as well as the first woman, to lead pri paras the untry have not always gone years ago, more than 100 people, mostly police, were jured when a group of anti-gay protters attacked the rally five years afterwards the thori would not sanctn the was revived 2014 amid huge secury, cludg special forc and armoured the patriarch of the fluential Orthodox Church nmned the event and civil society anisatns reported that some dividuals takg part have sce lost jobs as a Brnabic beme prime mister June this year and has tried to shift foc away om her sexual orientatn, askg: "Why do matter?

"She is one of only a few lears worldwi who are openly gay. Image source, EPAImage ptn, Ms Brnabic (R) posed for a photograph wh Helena Vovic, a transgenr former Serbian Army officerThe marchers hope she will liver legislative chang helpg same-sex is a ndidate to jo the European Unn, but the EU has said needs to improve mory rights - cludg for lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr on this storyAround the BBC.

One month ago, Ana Brnabić was appoted Serbia's first openly gay prime mister. Have homophobic attus changed?