Od Sermons of Bishop Nicanor of Bač in which he calls on the "protectors" of traditional values to oppose Europride, through requests from the state leadership to the organizers to cancel it, to the proposal of the Minister of Police Aleksandar Vulin that the event should be banned, the heated atmosphere culminated when Patriarch Porfirije, on behalf of the Serbian Orthodox Church, agreed that Europride should not be held in Belgrade.
What will happen on September 17, when the Pride Parade is scheduled, is still uncertain, but there will certainly be some kind of gathering of local and foreign Pride participants on the streets of Belgrade.
On the same day, right-wingers, or "protectors" of the family and Serbian values, organized a rally in the spirit of Litija for the salvation of Serbia under the banner of Orthodoxy. Dveri leader Boško Obradović talks about 100.000 people who will flock to Belgrade that day to defend Serbia from Western deviant corruption.
The promotion of cadets of the Military Academy, previously scheduled for September 10, was moved to September 17.
It looks like a scenario for a perfect storm: simultaneously on the streets of Belgrade and members of the LGBT+ community with those who support their fight for equality, and Orthodox right-wingers of all stripes and colors who would like to abolish them, and the cadets of the Military Academy, and over everyone in low flight winks they break the sound barrier. It also sounds like a perfect excuse to ban all djutura. Except for cadets and migos.
Horror, fear and sadness
A member of the KM LGBT+ community who lives in Belgrade, and who wanted to remain anonymous precisely because of the society as it is, told the portal "Vremena" that he was not surprised by the statements of Patriarch Porfiri, but "regrets every time he hears" the faithful of the church. He adds that the church has always been positioned this way, but that he hopes that some of the future patriarchs will react "with more love and understanding", because, he says, "they clearly lack that".
He explains that he was not surprised by the statement of the Minister of Internal Affairs Aleksandar Vulin, but that it "introduces confusion and fear that the participants of the parade will not be protected".
"What further terrifies me is the amount of liberal homophobia of those who are considered fighters for human rights, like Gordana Čomić," explains KM and adds that all those statements "yes, but" are very harmful.
When asked how he, as a member of the LGBT+ community, views the recommendations of the Pride organizers that participants not hold hands outside the event, nor wear signs of the rights they are fighting for, the interlocutor of the "Vremena" portal says that he is "sad about it", but that that is "reasonable", because "we have not moved from the same point for twenty years", so such recommendations are "necessary before every Pride".
"A huge space has opened up for the right-wing, today is a gay parade, and tomorrow there will be an abortion or something else," concludes the conversation of a Serbian citizen who is waiting for better times to be able to speak publicly under his name, without suffering the consequences tomorrow.
There is no withdrawal
On the window of the Pride Info Center in Kralja Milana Street in Belgrade, stickers against "sodomy" appeared again on Tuesday, as members of the extreme right-wing organization Carostavnik would say, and they are sticking them more and more often around the city as September 17 approaches.
The coordinator of the Pride Info Center, Dušanka Tomašević, tells the portal "Vremena" that every time someone says that there won't be a walk, a "question mark appears in front of her eyes". "Why am I not equal to other people who hold registered and unregistered gatherings and in what way am I less valuable", he asks again and again.
He adds that out of the 365 days of the year, it is a walk that lasts only two hours
He says that these announcements about the bans led people to "come in even greater numbers, to join and to be in solidarity". Although, he adds, they certainly led to "people becoming more afraid".
"If they ban the event, then it will no longer be Pride, but a protest," concludes the interviewee.
Certain speculations about holding protests already exist, if the announcements about the ban really come true.
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