I’ve never been a flag-wavg “God bls the U.S.A.” kd of guy, but travelg through the Balkans ma me rethk what means to be gay and Amerin.
Contents:
- THE BALKANS – A PLACE WHERE BEG GAY IS NOT OKAY
- HOW TRAVELG THROUGH EASTERN EUROPE TGHT ME TO APPRECIATE BEG A GAY AMERIN
- WH VISIBILY COM A COST: TO BE GAY THE BALKANS
- MEET THE GAY MLIM ARTIST MAKG WAV FOR MONTENEGRO AT THIS YEAR'S VENICE BIENNALE
- TRAVELG THE BALKANS WHILE GAY… THIS IS MY STORY…
- GAY THE BALKANS: PICK AN OPPRSIVE RELIGN
- HOW TO BE GAY THSALONIKI
THE BALKANS – A PLACE WHERE BEG GAY IS NOT OKAY
If you live the Balkans, and you say to your mother: 'Mum, you'll never have grandchildren. I'm gay“, then the support is the last thg you n expect. * gay balkans *
He was beaten by five men the middle of his hometown, he got beaten many different towns all over former Yugoslavia where he had attend gay-iendly events, he ed to be spat the streets, he ed to get threats too, but his worst experience were graffis all over his hometown wh his full name, wh a swastika - the emblem of the German Nazi Party, and wh rogatory term for gay populatns. "Another disturbg se was graffi right to my door 'ubij pera' /kill the gay/ when police said wasn't their jurisdictn and swched to munal police; munal police said wasn't their jurisdictn neher sce was the private property and so on.
Although the first gay pri the former Yugoslavia untri took place 2001 /Belgra Serbia and Ljubljana Slovenia/, Bosnia is still the one and only Balkan untry which still didn't manage to anise . The most dangero statns for LGBT people are Nigeria, Qatar, Yemen and Sdi Arabia, where, the bloggers wrote, “the ath penalty or life imprisonment is still a sentence for beg openly gay”. “Those lookg for trans- and gay-travel-safe untri should rensir popular vatn statns like Malaysia, Sgapore, Sdi Arabia, Moroc, Myanmar, and Egypt as well as some of the more popular beach the Caribbean, like Sat Lucia and Barbados, ” they said.
I’ve always thought of Europe as more progrsive than the rt of the world, but when to beg gay, some of the eastern untri have more mon–or at least as much mon–wh the notorly homophobic untri of Ai and the Middle East than wh the rt of the ntent.
HOW TRAVELG THROUGH EASTERN EUROPE TGHT ME TO APPRECIATE BEG A GAY AMERIN
* gay balkans *
Of the dozens of gay men I’ve met Serbia, Bosnia and Herzea, Croatia, Montenegro, Albania, Macedonia, Bulgaria, and Turkey, only a handful–if that many–have been out and proud gay men. ” The lyrics to ABBA’s 1979 h have ocsnally been on repeat my head, and each time, I image a chos of gay Balkan men shoutg “Hell no! S., many gay men don’t e out bee they’re worried about how would affect their relatnships wh fay and iends as well as their reers.
When I was livg Sydney, I met a young man om Pakistan whose father tried to kill him when he was four years old by force-feedg him sleepg pills bee he already spected his son would grow up to be gay.
WH VISIBILY COM A COST: TO BE GAY THE BALKANS
Why we need to fd better answers to the discrimatn and vlence agast LGBTI people the Wtern Balkans “I’m gay.” This admissn ma to * gay balkans *
Although some of the bigger Balkan ci have “gay-iendly” plac, outsi of Belgra and Greece, actual gay bars and clubs are rare to nonexistent. Belgra has a fairly cent-sized LGBTQ muny, but the majory of gay men Serbia still nnect wh each other through facels profil on Grdr and other apps, not jt bee ’s cheaper and easier than gog out. He said he uldn’t sample Belgra’s gay nightlife bee he was aaid he’d see someone he knows, th endangerg his refully cultivated sexually ntral image.
Gay Pri is celebrated most of the pal ci I’ve vised (and also Thsaloniki, Greece, whose event I missed by one day), but gay pri isn’t really a year-round thg. ), I disvered that Grdr, like Wikipedia, is blocked by the ernment, which has also banned Gay Pri for the past four years, cg secury ncerns (yeah, right). If I’ve gaed anythg as a gay man on my ongog Balkan adventure (next and fal stop: Romania) bis the benefs of a good VPN, ’s more gratu for the eedom to be out back home and jt as much passn for those here who ci to stay .
MEET THE GAY MLIM ARTIST MAKG WAV FOR MONTENEGRO AT THIS YEAR'S VENICE BIENNALE
This survey was nducted to better unrstand the liv of lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr, and tersex (LGBTI) people seven untri Southeastern Europe: five the Wtern Balkans - Albania, Bosnia and Herzea, Kosovo, FYR Macedonia, and Montenegro; as well as two European Unn (EU) member stat, Croatia and Slovenia. The rearch adopted and adapted a 2012 survey of LGBT people rried out by the European Unn Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) 27 EU untri pl Croatia (which joed the EU 2013) (the “FRA survey”). The FRA survey set a benchmark for unrstandg the liv of LGBT people. In addn to the FRA survey, this current survey also gathered specific rmatn on the liv of tersex people. The llective experienc of LGBTI people the untri surveyed pat a distrsg picture of the harmful effects of discrimatn, harassment, excln, and vlence. The fdgs nfirm that generally, most LGBTI people hi their inti for fear of discrimatn or worse and have legimate ncerns about their safety, pecially public spac, but also their own hom. The survey dit that the majory of LGBTI people are not volved LGBTI movements and have limed knowledge of their rights and how to exercise them. Many are on the receivg end of offensive jok, sults, abive language, and exprsns of hatred. Discrimatn the workplace and the healthre and tn systems remas mon, and cints of excln and harassment are wispread. This is the largt survey of LGBTI people ever rried out Southeastern Europe. A total of 2,296 people rpond. In a ntext of wispread stigma, the survey was nducted onle to allow the wist number of people to participate privately and nfintially. Sce rponnts had to “opt ” to the survey, the data is om self-selected participants and is therefore not a random sample of LGBTI people the participatg untri. It is difficult to obta a reprentative sample of LGBTI people, so onle surveys are nsired the most appropriate method for surveyg sexual and genr mori. The survey samplg method and recment is nsistent wh prev studi of the populatns, cludg the FRA survey. The sample was weighted to populatn targets rived om a meta-analysis, and each untry sample was weighted proportnately to the size of s adults’ populatn. * gay balkans *
A young man who ‘outs’ himself as gay towards his fay may experience severe forms of domtic vlence and sult om his clost relativ and ci to leave home earlier than the average young person.
This example also appli to others wh a sexual orientatn or genr inty different om what is perceived as beg mastream – monly referred to as ‘LGBTI’: lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr and tersex.
TRAVELG THE BALKANS WHILE GAY… THIS IS MY STORY…
An vigoratg gay hike through Central Europe�s relatively undisvered natnal parks Montenegro & Albania. Fd out why the up-and-g Balkans are makg wav among the travel gnoscenti on this big gay sweaty smper. Thgs kick off UNESCO-listed Kotor Bay where we�ll tour Medieval monasteri and photograph fortified island ci. Then we�ll swerve land to enjoy the relatively untouched mounta forts of both Montenegro and Albania. * gay balkans *
As s are seldom reported, there are few legal proceedgs that uld have a wir signal functn; the few s that do exist, claimants often face an uphill battle agast homophobic thori. Biljana Gova om the Helski Commtee for Human Rights of the Republic of Macedonia says that they expect an ternatnal NGO like Helvetas to take a leadg role advotg for LGBTI rights: “As long as we are quiet we only nurture homophobia. While gay and lbian people are protected unr both Montenegr and Albanian law, public opn polls still show startlg distaste for our muny.
Whereas is generally not safe to openly display gay behavur the Balkans (See "stay safe" sectn below) there are many unrground alternativ which are supportive of the LGBT muny. Neighborg Serbia is more advanced, but only margally so: homosexualy was crimalized 1994, and the first activist anizatns found the early 90’s. Predrag Azjkovic, Director of the LGBT Merlka Film Ftival Belgra, explaed that gay venu are few number and only active on the weekends.
” Dpe other European ci such as Barcelona and Paris offerg a more gay-iendly and vibrant scene, “the Serbs are often too shy to go there. “I go bee there’s nowhere else to go, ” said young femist activist Marija Vuletic, reference to a gay bar that operat on Fridays and Saturdays. Marija, who grew up a small town four hours om Sarajevo and me out as a lbian at the age of fourteen, said that when she realized she was gay she “didn’t even know there were other gay people.
GAY THE BALKANS: PICK AN OPPRSIVE RELIGN
On this gay hikg tour, travellers will trek some of ntental Europe's last virg forts and raft one of s most betiful rivers. * gay balkans *
Iniativ like the are difficult to lead, but Marija says a posive change police attus has ma members of the gay muny feel somewhat safer recent years. Three years ago, a lbian anizatn was fund to produce an annual report on LGBT rights the regn, spe the fact Gay Straight Alliance (GSA) was known to be producg one. Rpect for gay rights is a legal crern for EU accsn, wh the European Commissn (EC) producg annual progrs reports on the suatn for LGBT muni potential member stat.
In preparg the reports, the EC pays special attentn to Gay Pri March—so much so, fact, that succsful Pris have e to be regard almost as EU “entry tickets.
Called The Wner Tak It All, featur Buu ont of a vio sgg monotone the famo ABBA song wh s melancholic harmony, backed by two vios spliced together: one shows gay men joyfully dancg a New York nightclub and the other, sharp ntrast, is om a YouTube vio of a group of Rsian men beatg up a gay man. LGBTQ groups are crossg ethno-natnal boundariOn October 21, 2012, a gay grassroots activist was btally attacked Tetovo, Macedonia as he was walkg home around 9pm. ”The already volatile polil suatn Macedonia is even worse for s LGBT populatn: ernment officials recently nounced same-sex marriage and adoptn by gay upl.
HOW TO BE GAY THSALONIKI
While travelg the Balkans I learned about wars, genoci, polil rptn, anger, fger potg, gossip, rebellns, dictators, lg empir and the reali of beg gay Eastern, formerly munist untrysi. In Bosnia I was told “I want to kill you right now” and I feared for my safety. All this was happeng my life… * gay balkans *
”Moreover, the recent statements by the ernment misters “fect all other stutns to all bee homophobic, too, and there is hate speech om the media.
That’s how he explas that Fom Progr’ founr, Zdravko Cimbaljevic, remas the only publicly gay person the beg affiliated wh the LGBT muny was enough to get beaten September. “But shows that even if you are nnected any way possible wh the gay muny, even if you are tryg to advote, you get beaten, ” he ntu.
How is to be gay Thsaloniki? I talked to two gay men about their experienc regardg livg Thsaloniki and beg gay. Excg. * gay balkans *
“That is a great way of showg that even if you support gay rights, and believe that LGBT rights are human rights, you n get beaten.