Belgrade Pride

The first ever attempt at the organization of the event in Belgrade occurred in 2001, following the overthrow of Slobodan Milošević's regime; yet it ended up with the violent assault on the organizers and participants by sport fans and extreme right wing activists.^[1]

Authorities prevented further efforts to organize and register the event until 2010, a year after the adoption of the Law on Prohibition of Discrimination. That Pride, which was held in October 2010, is remembered for vandalization of the city and heavy violence from hooligans aimed at attendees of the pride, as well as at policemen. According to police reports, 140 people were injured during the event, out of whom 120 were police officers.^[2] The events from the 2010 Belgrade Pride were referenced in the 2011 movie The Parade, directed by Srđan Dragojević, which attracted significant audience in Serbia and former Yugoslavia, becoming one of the decade's commercially highest performing films.^[3][4]

Afterwards, Belgrade Pride again faced bans from the governing bodies.^[3] In 2013, however, the Constitutional Court of Serbia ruled that the 2011 ban had been a violation of the constitutionally guaranteed right to freedom of assembly, awarding damages to the organizers.^[5] The third pride parade was organized in 2014 in parallel with the first Belgrade Trans Pride, without any notable incident. Since then, the event has been organized annually, except in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[6]

Over the years, public attitude changed with two thirds of participants of the Civil Rights Defenders research explicitly supporting the right to hold a pride parade in Belgrade.^[6] At the conference in Bilbao in 2019, Belgrade Pride was selected to host 2022 EuroPride in competition with ILGA Portugal, Dublin Pride and Pride Barcelona.^[7] Belgrade became the first city in the region, as well as the first one outside of the European Economic Area, to host the event.^[8] On 27 August 2022, President Aleksandar Vučić announced he would not permit EuroPride to go forward, citing current tensions between Serbia and Kosovo, economic problems, and concerns that anti-gay protestors could disrupt the event. Organizers of EuroPride denounced the decision and stated they would go forward with the event anyway.^[9] Vučić and the Government of Serbia then ultimately approved on 17 September that the parade could take place. With an estimated 6,000 participants, the 2021 Belgrade Pride became the highest-attended one so far.^[10][11] Minor incidents happened during the parade walk, orchestrated by contra protestors.^[12][13]

Since 2014, Belgrade Pride has had the same demands, which include the following:

• Legalization of same-sex unions
• Introduction of a law on gender identity and the rights for intersex people
• Stronger official responses to hate speech and hate crimes
• Adoption of local action plans for the LGBT+ community in Serbia
• Public apology for Serbian citizens who have been persecuted for their sexuality and gender identity until 1994
• Education on sexual orientation and gender identity
• Free and easily available PrEP and PEP^[14]

Notes

• Novi Sad Pride
• LGBT rights in Serbia
• Recognition of same-sex unions in Serbia
• LGBT history in Yugoslavia
• Sarajevo Pride
• Zagreb Pride