BELGRADE. Usually a pride event is held LGBT, EuroPridein Belgrade on September 17, according to its organizer, and despite the ban on the march through the streets of the Serbian capital by President Vučić’s government.
LGBTI rights activist Marko Mihajlovic insisted that the event would proceed as usual. In a statement yesterday, Prime Minister Ana Brnabic, who is a lesbian, said that President Vučić did not intend to ban the march, he simply expressed his opinion. The President of Serbia, according to the Prime Minister, called on the organizers to suspend the procession because of the threats received by the event from extreme right circles.
On Sunday night, thousands of Orthodox Serbs demonstrated on the streets of the capital, warning the authorities and President Vučić not to succumb to pressure from the LGBTI community and to impose a ban on marching through the streets of Belgrade in September.
Waving icons, large crosses and religious banners, demonstrators marched through the streets singing hymns, stopping in the courtyard of St. Sava Cathedral. Speaking to a crowd of believers, Serbian Bishop Nikanor hailed the authorities’ initial decision that would have prevented “this blasphemous act against our people, our church and our families.” The Serbian priest went on to say that the “anomaly” of homosexuality must be fought, as is the case in the Russia of Vladimir Putin, whom he called the “king of the planet.”
In 2013, Russia passed a law banning “propaganda of homosexuality” among minors. Bishop Nikanor said that believers are ready to take to the streets again and confront “those who plan to destroy Serbian values.”
Hours after his “recommendation” to ban EuroPride, President Vučić appointed his close associate and prime minister, Anu Brnabić, who is openly gay, for another four years. Brnabić supported Vučić’s stance on the event, echoing the president’s concerns about the safety of the march. “What the organizers of EuroPride supported is legal and constitutional. But what will be the consequences for our country? For this reason, we do not ban the event, but call for its suspension,” the Prime Minister said yesterday.
Source: Kathimerini
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