SERBIA

Thousands of people marched through the Serbian capital on Sept 7 in what organizers are calling the largest Belgrade Pride yet. The march went off peacefully under the protection of a heavy police presence, a marked contrast to previous years that have seen the march threatened or canceled due to violent anti-LGBTQ protestors.

This year’s Pride marchers were demanding that the government pass laws to expand LGBTQ rights, including a long-promised same-sex partnership law and a law to facilitate legal gender recognition.

The march route took participants past the Serbian parliament, where organizers read out a list of demands and an unidentified participant hung a rainbow flag from an office window.

“Politicians, with political will, could easily fulfill the demands. Of course, it is also important that these laws are then applied,” Goran Miletic, one of the Pride organizers, told media.

A civil union bill has been under discussion by the Serbian government since 2019, under former Prime Minister Ana Brnabic, who is openly lesbian. But after years of consultations, President Alexander Vucic announced in 2021 that he would veto the bill if it passed parliament. While consultations have continued, the bill has been effectively stalled since then. 

Serbia is also required by the European Convention on Human Rights to provide some legal recognition to same-sex couples.

Serbian European Integration Minister Tanja Miscevic attended the Pride event and told media that the government is still considering civil union legislation, though she offered no timeline to implement it.

“The issue is protecting the rights of various citizens, which must be equalized with the rights that we all have,” Miscevic told media at the event.

Belgrade Pride was first celebrated in 2001 with a march that was attacked by right-wing organizations, leaving more than 40 people injured. After several failed attempts to hold a second parade, the next Belgrade Pride was held in 2010, which led to street battles between police and anti-LGBTQ protestors, with more than 100 officers injured and more than 250 arrests. Pride was banned by authorities in 2011 and 2012, before being revived in 2014.

In 2022, Belgrade was due to host EuroPride, but authorities denied permits at the last minute, citing security concerns, and only a shortened march was held.

ALBANIA

A conservative member of the Albanian parliament is stirring up a homophobic controversy over a third grade language textbook that depicts a wizard in a rainbow robe on its cover.

The controversy was first kicked up by right-wing commentator Auron Kalaja, who posted the cover of the textbook “Gjuha Shqipe” on Instagram with a caption directing parents to “reject this book.”

“What is the meaning of the rainbow and its colors on the cover of the most beautiful subject?! Will this creature holding a magic wand change the children’s minds so that the latter ones change sex or … ?!” Kalaja wrote.

Tritan Shehu, an MP from the right-leaning Democratic Party, claimed that the textbook was an attempt by the government to “deform” children, in a Sept. 6 Facebook post. 

“The cover of the official text of ‘Gjuha Shqipe’ for children is a cynical insult on children, their development, their future and their vision for life and family,” he writes. “A child appears there and on top of that a ‘man’ with a beard wearing a dress of ‘rainbow’ colors, dancing barefoot like a woman!!! Here we are not dealing with coincidences, but with a strategy of the regime, dangerous gender for sexual orientation in the new female age.” 

While the comments have stirred up outrage in the predictable circles, the book’s publisher Albas backed the design in a statement, noting the book has been used in schools for eight years without any complaints from parents or educators.

Albas’ statement explains that both the rainbow and the wizard relate to stories contained in the textbook.

“The tendentious and discriminatory interpretations, the more they spread on social networks and in the media, the more they deepen the crisis we are going through as a society, damaging the mental health of children,” Albas’s statement reads.

GEORGIA

The government got one step closer to passing its draconian anti-LGBTQ “propaganda” law last week, as the bill secured passage at second reading in parliament. A final vote is scheduled for Sept. 17.

The ruling Georgian Dream party introduced the bill this summer, drawing swift condemnation from Western allies. Analysts believe the government is using the bill to foment division among the opposition ahead of parliamentary elections scheduled for late October.

The bill, inspired by similar legislation passed by Russia in 2013, would ban any gathering, product, or educational program that “popularizes” LGBTQ people or identities, bans gender-related care for trans people and legal recognition of their gender, bans any legal recognition of same-sex couples, bans adoption by same-sex couples, and bans any marriage by non-heterosexual or non-cisgender people. 

The passage at second reading was strongly condemned by the European Union in a statement.

“This package undermines the fundamental rights of Georgian people and risks further stigmatization and discrimination of part of the population,” the statement reads. “The EU calls on the Georgian authorities to entirely reconsider this legislative package.”

Georgian Dream has taken an increasingly authoritarian and anti-Western stance in recent years, positioning itself and its patron Russia as a bulwark against liberal and inclusive European values that it portrays as promoting LGBTQ rights.

This turn has come despite the public’s overwhelming support for EU membership, and the government’s stated goal of joining the bloc. The country was given candidate status last year, but recent anti-democratic actions have led the bloc to threaten to suspend its candidacy.

Earlier this year, Georgia passed a “foreign agents” bill, requiring any organization that receives funding from abroad to register as an agent of a foreign power or face stiff fines and sanctions. Critics said the law, also inspired by a similar Russian law, was an attempt to silence and discredit opposition groups, the media, and civil society organizations.

Several Eastern European countries have adopted or considered “LGBT propaganda” bills recently. Lithuania and Hungary both have laws banning promotion of LGBTQ issues to minors on the books, though Lithuania’s has been ruled in violation of the European Convention on Human Rights. A similar bill has been proposed in Slovakia. 

HONG KONG 

NGOs serving the LGBTQ community have faced deep cutbacks in funding from the government over the past year, putting services and events the queer community relies on in jeopardy.

The Hong Kong Free Press reports that groups like Gay Harmony and PrideLab have had to cut back staff and resources in the wake of surprise cuts to grants they have received from the government.

That’s led the groups to cancel HIV awareness and outreach programs, and the annual Pride Market.

These groups had received money from the Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau’s Equal Opportunities (Sexual Orientation) funding scheme since 1998. Between 2018-2023, CMAB had allocated funding to between 18 and 24 organizations, with a budget of HK$1.3 million (approximately $170,000). But for the current fiscal year, that’s dropped to 10 organizations from a budget of just under HK$700,000 (approximately $90,000).

Compounding the damage, the CMAC also allocates funds to three anti-LGBTQ organizations that promote conversion therapy — New Creation Association, Post Gay Alliance, and the Hong Kong Psychosexual Education Association.

Additionally, the city’s AIDS Trust Fund has also drastically reduced funding to LGBTQ organizations.

Hong Kong’s queer activists say this reflects an overall shift in attitudes from the city’s government. 

While previously, the Equal Opportunities Commission attended LGBTQ events in support of the community, the EOC has announced it no longer considers it “suitable” to engage in activities in support of possible legislation on banning anti-LGBTQ discrimination.

The situation in Hong Kong has become complex for LGBTQ people, since Beijing has moved to exert greater control over the former British colony. 

NGOs are reluctant to accept funds from foreign governments, lest they be branded a potential national security threat. Public demonstrations and Pride events have also become more difficult to plan and receive approval for.