N1 Guests on Pride: The Same Demands 25 Years Later, but Young People Are Less Homophobic Today

Belgrade Pride is returning to the slogan “There Is Room for All of Us” as thousands of people are expected to march through central Belgrade. The slogan recalls the first Pride held 25 years ago, while guests on N1 said many of the movement’s demands remain unchanged.

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We can say that there is broader social understanding that there should be room for all of us, but the fact that LGBTQ issues and rights are still discussed during Pride Week or when someone suffers serious violence shows that safety remains the biggest problem. Most queer people in Serbia still do not feel safe enough to express their sexual orientation publicly, at work and in everyday life, as freely as heterosexual people can.

Jelena Jerinić, a lawmaker from the Green-Left Front, said there has been broader social understanding that everyone should have a place. But she argued that the fact LGBTQ issues are still discussed mainly during Pride Week or after serious violence shows that safety remains the central problem.

She said many queer people in Serbia still do not feel safe enough to express their sexual orientation publicly, at work or in everyday life, as freely as heterosexual people. Jerinić also said state institutions have repeatedly declined to display Pride flags, despite appeals from organizers. She recalled that this had happened at the Ombudsman’s office in the past and perhaps once at the Equality Commissioner’s office.

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For years, Pride organizers have approached state institutions, but this never happens. At one point it happened at the Ombudsman’s office, and perhaps once at the Equality Commissioner’s office.

Jovana Gligorijević, a journalist with Vreme, said younger people are not as homophobic or transphobic as they were in 2001. She said the violence surrounding Pride that year had made her realize, at age 18, that gay people existed and should have equal rights. She described the current slogan as an attempt to correct the injustice of the canceled 2001 Pride and said further demands remain possible beyond legal changes.

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Young people are neither as homophobic nor as transphobic.

Organizers expect several thousand people carrying rainbow flags to join the march. The gathering is scheduled to begin in Manjež Park before the procession moves through central streets and returns to the park for a concert.

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At the time, it was completely unimaginable. In 2001, I was 18, and for the first time I realized that gay people existed and should have equal rights, because I was horrified by what happened that day.