Pride March in Belgrade Today: “There Is Room for All of Us”

Belgrade’s Pride March is scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. from Manjež Park, with participants set to walk through central city streets before returning to the park for a concert. This year’s Belgrade Pride is taking place under the slogan “There Is Room for All of Us.”

Organizers describe the march as the protest and central event of Pride Week, and as an opportunity for LGBTI+ people to publicly express their dissatisfaction with the absence of laws governing their lives. They specifically cited discrimination and violence that remain widespread and too often go unpunished.

They called Pride “an act of visibility and courage,” saying it allows the community to exist and protest in public while sending a message of solidarity to LGBTI+ people who cannot live freely and authentically. Organizers invited LGBTI+ people, their allies and other citizens to join the Sept. 5 protest in a shared struggle for equality, dignity and freedom.

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There is room for all of us

The slogan echoes the first Pride in Serbia, held 25 years ago and known as the “Bloody Pride.” Organizers recalled that hundreds of hooligans destroyed parts of the city center and beat the small number of people attending, while police lacked the numbers and ability to protect them. They said the repeated slogan serves as a reminder that the fight for equality continues.

Organizers said Belgrade Pride has been held regularly for more than a decade, despite a strong police presence and an attempted ban on EuroPride in 2022. However, they said no government, including the current one, has done enough to improve the community’s position. They said none of the event’s eight demands has been met, including the adoption of laws on same-sex partnerships, gender identity and the rights of intersex people. Journalist Danica Vučenić is this year’s Pride patron, while the drag performer Vlažena Kraljica is the Pride figurehead.

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an act of visibility and courage