Serbia: For gays, a ghetto morn Europe | The GroundTth Project

Contents:

• SERBIA'S FIRST OPENLY GAY MISTER MAK HISTORY
• SERBIA GETS S FIRST FEMALE – AND GAY – PRIME MISTER
• SERBIAN LAWMAKERS, IN HISTORIC FIRST, ELECT OPENLY GAY, FEMALE PRIME MISTER
• SERBIA: FOR GAYS, A GHETTO MORN EUROPE
• MALAYSIA CUTS SHORT MIC FT AFTER BRISH BAND SLAMS ANTI-GAY LAWS, SGER KISS MALE BANDMATE
• RENNTRE GRATUE GAY à PARIS, (75)
• LATVIA BE 7TH NATN TO BE LED BY AN OPENLY GAY HEAD OF STATE
• SERBIA’S OPENLY GAY LEAR MARCH BELGRA PRI PARA
• SAN MARO APPOTS WORLD’S FIRST OPENLY GAY HEAD OF STATE
• SERBIA LAWMAKERS ELECT 1ST FEMALE AND 1ST OPENLY GAY PREMIER

SERBIA'S FIRST OPENLY GAY MISTER MAK HISTORY

She is one of six new misters the Serbian ernment, but has been gettg all the public attentn, as she is poised to bee the first openly gay mister to serve any Balkan untry. Prime Mister Aleksandar Vucic, who ma the appotment, is beg sgled out for praise by members of the lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr (LGBT) muny Serbia. Acrdg to the Belgra based Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA), choosg Brnabic as a mister is historic bee rais the hope that Serbia n bee a society which everyone has equal opportuny.

To date, there have been five openly LGBTQ+ people who have served as a natnal head of ernment, Iceland, Belgium, Luxembourg, Ireland, and Serbia -- but gay, bisexual, lbian, and even transgenr lears have guid natns sce time immemorial.

SERBIA GETS S FIRST FEMALE – AND GAY – PRIME MISTER

That he sat on the throne named Neferkare leads many scholars to believe the tale Kg Neferkare and General Sase, which scrib a gay relatnship between a pharaoh and his general, was fact about Pepi, though Egyptologists ntue to bate if the story was tth or fictn.

The dictator of the cy of Athens 514, Hipparch had ma a sexual advance toward the openly gay Harmodi and was rejected multiple tim, acrdg to historian Thucydis.

SERBIAN LAWMAKERS, IN HISTORIC FIRST, ELECT OPENLY GAY, FEMALE PRIME MISTER

The ler of England om 1087 to 1100, Kg William II was gay, acrdg to the wrer Eadmer, though effemate mannerisms and fashn choic seemed his primary evince. The grand de of Tny om 1621 until 1670, Ferdando married and produced children, but also quarreled wh his mother, Maria Madla of Atria, about whether homosexualy should be outlawed. Likely Ameri's first gay print, Democrat Jam Buchanan won the electn of 1856 -- rallyg support om the slaveholdg stat the origal Southern Strategy.

In addn to beg the first openly gay prime mister of the island natn, the 38-year-old was the youngt head of ernment for the untry and the first member of an ethnic mory to hold the post (his father is an Indian immigrant). 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: FOR GAYS, A GHETTO MORN EUROPE

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. 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.

MALAYSIA CUTS SHORT MIC FT AFTER BRISH BAND SLAMS ANTI-GAY LAWS, SGER KISS MALE BANDMATE

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. Serbian lawmakers elected Ana Brnabic as prime mister on June 29, makg history by choosg both the nservative Balkan natn's first female prime mister and s first openly gay lear.

RENNTRE GRATUE GAY à PARIS, (75)

Though the days when nearly half of Serbs nsired beg gay an illns are long gone, officials rema sluggish to tackle homophobia while relig lears nsir LGBTQ+ rights a generate Wtern plot. BELGRADE, Serbia — Although the Serbian parliament guaranteed the untry’s LGBT cizens protectn 2009 by passg the hard-won Anti-Discrimatn Law, gay Serbs say their day-to-day realy is a nightmarish diversn om that egalarian legislatn. This disnnect between law and practice leav gays and lbians vulnerable to vic verbal and physil attacks the streets, church and hom of their untry and also provis a challenge to the US and EU how bt to apply more aggrsive diplomatic tactics to enforce the prciple that gay rights are human rights.

Jt weeks after the Obama admistratn unveiled a groundbreakg new foreign policy directg Amerin agenci workg abroad to step up their efforts to protect LGBT rights, the culture of fear that exists for gay Serbs unrsr both the need for this iative and what some crics feel is s weakns. So Serbian LGBTs say they are not optimistic about the lite procs of diplomacy, and particularly the US State Department's 'posive' approach to enuragg an embrace of gay rights whout any clear nsequence when a untry fails to improve s members of Serbia's gay muny, like a 23-year-old man om Vojvoda who spoke wh GlobalPost, are sperate for man, who asked that we intify him only by his ials, I.

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

J., to protect his inty out of fear for his life, has often experienced the btaly of a hyper-macho, homophobic mentaly that LGBT advot say is pervasive Serbia. Activists say is a fiercely homophobic culture that begs wh the anti-gay teachgs of the Serbian Orthodox Church, further legimized by major polil figur and enforced by a vlent street culture of natnalist thugs and soccer hooligans.

LGBT Serbians and their alli report that the untry’s society is rabidly tolerant of sexual mori, often equatg gays and lbians wh the habants of the doomed Biblil ci of Sodom and Gomorrah, patg homosexualy as a Wtern import bent on stroyg the Serbian natn and s Christian relign. Although the Orthodox Church officially nmns any vlence mted agast gays, also award Interr Mister Ivi Dacic an honorary “Whe Angel” medal five days after he announced the ban on this year’s pri para. Serbian relig and polil lears regularly support each other’s homophobic statements and actns, fuelg an aggrsive brand relig natnalism a untry still alg wh the bloody legacy of war and genoci — and still lookg for a spegoat.

SERBIA’S OPENLY GAY LEAR MARCH BELGRA PRI PARA

The Obama admistratn’s LGBT policy, which treats gay rights as human rights matters of US diplomacy and foreign assistance, will be implemented by the US Embassy Belgra the g months, said prs attaché Brian Stimmler. Nevena Petsic, Serbia's first Commissner for Equaly, exprsed a sense of urgency about the state of Serbia’s gay muny, which she said "is exposed to threats, hate speech, discrimatn and vlence almost daily. Serbian gay anizatns pot the fger at policians and clerics of the Serbian Orthodox Church as the top of the Serbian homophobic Gay and Lbian Info Center (GLIC) blam Mister Dacic along wh Belgra Mayor Dragan Djilas and Jagoda Mayor Dragan Markovic Palma for open animosy toward Serbia’s domtic LGBT ncelg the para rather than protectg , the group believ, Dacic sent a msage that the gay muny uld not tst the police to shield om vlence.

In 2009 he said Serbian police uld not guarantee protectn for the gay pri event bee anti-gay opponents had allegedly planned to fire projectil om the wdows of the nearby buildgs. Amfilohije Radovic, a metropolan the Serbian Orthodox Church, clared homosexuals "the stench that poisoned and polluted Belgra, ” and charged that the Church "ph unr rpet" gays who are highly posned the Church hierarchy.

SAN MARO APPOTS WORLD’S FIRST OPENLY GAY HEAD OF STATE

The mutual rercement the Church and state provi one another their anti-gay polici is formidable, but voted LGBT rights activists have leveraged the 2009 Anti-Discrimatn Law to brg charg agast several lears and anti-LGBT actors. In November the First Basic Court Belgra proclaimed Jagoda Mayor Markovic guilty of “severe discrimatn” agast the Serbian LGBT populatn a se brought agast him by the Gay Straight Alliance (GSA).

In Augt 2010 a lbian anizatn lled LABRIS took aim at the Orthodox lear Radovic for his public ments agast homosexuals, g the Serbian Commissner for Equaly to orr Radovic to apologize publicly. Kristijan Zivanovic, 18, a member of the group "A ln Orthodox Christians agast queer para" stabbed gay German tourist Domic Miller, 18, while he was walkg wh his partner along the Sava River Belgra Augt 2010. In December 2010 an openly gay lear, Boris Milicevic, joed the board of a Serbian polil party for the first time at the Assembly of the Socialist Party of Serbia.

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysia's ernment Saturday cut short a mic ftival after the lead sger of Brish band The 1975 slammed the untry's anti-gay laws and kissed a male bandmate durg their performance. So Serbian LGBTs say they are not optimistic about the lite procs of diplomacy, and particularly the US State Department’s ‘posive’ approach to enuragg an embrace of gay rights whout any clear nsequence when a untry fails to improve s rerd.

SERBIA LAWMAKERS ELECT 1ST FEMALE AND 1ST OPENLY GAY PREMIER

Activists say is a fiercely homophobic culture that begs wh the anti-gay teachgs of the Serbian Orthodox Church, further legimized by major polil figur and enforced by a vlent street culture of natnalist thugs and soccer hooligans. LGBT Serbians and their alli report that the untry’s society is rabidly tolerant of sexual mori, often equatg gays and lbians wh the habants of the doomed Biblil ci of Sodom and Gomorrah, patg homosexualy as a Wtern import bent on stroyg the Serbian natn and s Christian relign. Although the Orthodox Church officially nmns any vlence mted agast gays, also award Interr Mister Ivi Dacic an honorary “Whe Angel” medal five days after he announced the ban on this year’s pri para.

The Obama admistratn’s LGBT policy, which treats gay rights as human rights matters of US diplomacy and foreign assistance, will be implemented by the US Embassy Belgra the g months, said prs attaché Brian Stimmler. Nevena Petsic, Serbia’s first Commissner for Equaly, exprsed a sense of urgency about the state of Serbia’s gay muny, which she said “is exposed to threats, hate speech, discrimatn and vlence almost daily.