Gay News From Balkan

[mikk33]

Wow that's good news, Ireland and Serbia both have openly gay leaders a woman and man of Indian origin. That's about three taboos broken all at once.
Who knows, one day we may actually accept, gender, sexual orientation and race as being normal!!.

 

[haiducii]

Majk Peroša from Piran named Mister Slovenia

The 9th edition of the Mister Slovenia pageant took place in Ljubljana on Wednesday. 24-year-old Majk Peroša from Piran was crowned this year’s Mister Slovenia.

Ten finalists vied for the title, and they were judged by a panel of nine judges. The event took place at SiTi theatre in Ljubljana.

The contestants competed in five categories, including swimwear, evening wear, and active wear. The judges gave the nod to Majk Peroša, who also received the highest number of Facebook votes. “The victory was a total suprise. The other guys were also great, so it was difficult to guess what the deciding factor would be,” Peroša said after winning the sash.

 

[gorgik9]

Handsome boy & I could easily be his fathers older brother...

I mean - why are the boys so young nowadays? Or is it just me getting older and older and older...

 

[haiducii]

I mean - why are the boys so young nowadays? Or is it just me getting older and older and older...

The older you get
The better you get
Unless you're a banana

- Betty White

 

[Shelter]

Handsome boy & I could easily be his fathers older brother...

I mean - why are the boys so young nowadays? Or is it just me getting older and older and older...

:blushing::blushing::blushing:
Gorgik9 my Dad always says: "People who don't want to get older must kill themselves in their younger years!" But no one will do that - so all of us will get older. But let me say, you may growing older with your body, there is nothing you can do against it. But don't allow yourself to get older in your brain. Then you will be really young until to your last day! p:heart::big hug:

 

[gorgik9]

The older you get
The better you get
Unless you're a banana

- Betty White

Nooo, I don't think I'm a banana, but - who knows? - maybe I'm a Surströmming? I'm Swedish, after all :rofl::rofl::rofl:

 

[gorgik9]

:blushing::blushing::blushing:
Gorgik9 my Dad always says: "People who don't want to get older must kill themselves in their younger years!" But no one will do that - so all of us will get older. But let me say, you may growing older with your body, there is nothing you can do against it. But don't allow yourself to get older in your brain. Then you will be really young until to your last day! p:heart::big hug:

:big hug:

You know Shelter, actually I don't think I suffer that much from age anxiety - but some days I get an attack, and one of the things that usually helps is my GH friends making me smile and laugh.

 

[haiducii]

Gay pride parade in Belgrade, Serbia



About 100 Serbian gays, lesbians and transgender people marched yesterday in Belgrade (note: Belgrade has about 1.2 million people), hailing the expected election of a first openly gay prime minister as historic for the Balkan country.

Activists gathered at a pride event in the city center under heavy police protection. They carried banners reading “we want life worthy of humans” or “support matters.”

Serbia’s gays have faced pressure and violence from extremist groups in the staunchly conservative nation. Activists demanded today that the authorities do more to curb anti-gay sentiments following recent incidents against transgender people.

READ MORE

 

[haiducii]

Kosovo Rights Activists Seek Clarity on Gay Marriage

Gay rights advocates in Kosovo say it is time to test whether the ambiguously worded constitution permits same-sex marriage or not.

Gay activists in Kosovo are calling for same-sex couples to challenge the country's constitution, which they say is ambiguous and at variance with Kosovo's stated European values.

They say that if a gay couple wishes to marry in Kosovo, it is not clear if this is possible because while Article 37 of the constitution says that "everyone enjoys the right to marry", Article 14, of the Law on Family, specifies that those who enter in a marriage should be of different sexes.

“Marriage is a legally registered community of two persons of different sexes, through which they freely decide to live together with the goal of creating a family,” Article 14 reads.

“As the constitution is the most important legal act, this means that the law is unconstitutional,” Rina Braimi, from the Pristina-based Centre for Equality and Liberty, CEL, told BIRN.

Teauta Hoxha, director of the Youth Initiative for Human Rights, YIHR, says the law on the family needs first to be challenged by a gay couple.

“It is possible for this law to be declared unconstitutional - but for such an act we must have a case to challenge the law, and unfortunately no couple has done this so far,” Hoxha told BIRN.

“Kosovo is one of the most homophobic places in region, so there is a fear about challenging the law and having it declared unconstitutional,” he explained...

READ MORE

 

[gorgik9]

"Teauta Hoxha" - some kind of relative to good old Dictator-Enver (Hoxha)?

 

[haiducii]

"Teauta Hoxha" - some kind of relative to good old Dictator-Enver (Hoxha)?

Grandson, maybe ...who knows ?! :thinking:

 

[haiducii]

Serbia’s PM doesn’t want to be known just for being gay

The first LGBT and first female prime minister in Serbian history has said she doesn’t want to be known just for being a ‘gay PM’.

Ana Brnabic, 41, was nominated for the position last month by right-wing President Aleksandar Vučić, and was later confirmed.

Last year, Brnabic became the first out gay cabinet minister when Vučić appointed her to be Minister for Public Administration.

In her first interview with a non-Serbian newspaper since becoming Prime Minister, Brnabic said she doesn’t want to be known just for being LGBT.

“Serbia is changing and changing fast, and if you will, I am part of that change, but I do not want to be branded ‘Serbia’s gay PM’. The message we need to send is about competence, professionalism and trustworthiness,” she told the Guardian.

READ MORE

 

[haiducii]

Belgrade Pride Week Opens LGBT Information Center

Belgrade, Serbia (August 29, 2017) - Serbian LGBT activists have opened an information center to support September's Pride Week in Belgrade. The venue offers a history of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender movement in Serbia, along with practical details for the week's events which run from September 11, culminating with the Pride Parade on September 17.

 

[haiducii]

Serbia’s leader attends gay pride march for first time

BELGRADE (Serbia) - Ana Brnabic, the first openly gay prime minister in the Balkan region and the first Serbian woman in the top job, joined several hundred gay activists Sunday at a gay pride march that was held amid tight security in the conservative Balkan country.

Holding rainbow flags, balloons and a banner reading “We want change” pride participants gathered in Belgrade, the Serbian capital, before setting off on a march through the city under heavy security. Many approached Prime Minister Ana Brnabic, greeting her and taking selfies. Belgrade Mayor Sinisa Mali also attended Sunday's parade.

Serbian riot police cordoned off the city center with metal fences early Sunday to prevent possible clashes with extremist groups opposed to the pride gathering. Right-wing activists gathered in a central area with banners but no incidents were reported.

Today, despite the hundreds of riot police in downtown Belgrade and the helicopters flying overhead, activists said the atmosphere was more relaxed than in previous years.

“The government is here for all citizens and will secure the respect of rights for all citizens,” Brnabic told reporters. “We want to send a signal that diversity makes our society stronger, that together we can do more.”

Gay activists in Serbia have hailed Brnabic’s appointment as an important step in their struggle for gay rights, but say much more still needs to be done. “Today we walk together and together we will stress that problems still exist and that we want to work together to solve them,” said activist Goran Miletic.

Brnabic, 41, made international headlines in June when she was selected to be prime minister by her predecessor, Aleksandar Vucic, after he was elected president. She previously was the government minister of public administration and local government.

Last week, Brnabic dismissed as “nonsense” the accusation that she had been chosen merely because of her sexual orientation and to improve Serbia’s image as the country campaigns to join the European Union.

“Diversity and tolerance must not be reduced to recognition and appreciation of members of the LGBT population only, but must encompass other minority groups as well,” she said at a September 15 conference on human and minority rights in Serbia.

Activists say anti-LGBT prejudice remains a widespread problem in Serbia.

The first attempt to organize a pride parade in Belgrade was in 2001, when its participants were attacked by sports fans, ultranationalist groups, and nationalist party sympathizers.

In 2010, parade participants were protected by police, but throughout the city there were riots and severe clashes between police and right-wing hooligans who opposed the march.

Because of the violence, for the following several years the authorities banned the parade, citing the security risks for participants.

However, parades were held in 2014, 2015, and 2016 without serious incident but safeguarded by thousands of police officers.

MORE IMAGES

 

[haiducii]

Kosovo holds its first ever official LGBT Pride parade

Hundreds of people have attended Kosovo’s first ever official LGBT Pride parade.

The event was held in the capital Pristina on Tuesday and follows unofficial marches in recent years to protest against homophobia and transphobia in the country.

Hashim Thaçi, Kosovo’s President and the man who led the country to independence in 2008, joined the parade.

Called “In the Name of Love”, it was organised by nine different non-governmental organisations, with the “historic occasion” set to become an annual October event.

Dua Lipa, an English pop star who had left Pristina in the 1990's (btw, British singer and actress Rita Ora was born in Priština, Kosovo), expressed her support for the event. “Kosovo had its first pride parade today in Prishtina. Love is love,” she said on Twitter.

Walking between two main squares in the city, participants chanted “There is no gender in love” as rainbow banners were waved and music was played.

The parade will help raise awareness of LGBT issues in the Balkan nation.

A 2015 report the National Democratic Institution, a US organisation that promotes democratic institutions, found that gay and transgender people face significant levels of homophobia in the region.

SOURCE

 

[haiducii]

Serbia’s Embattled Trans People Hope for Brighter Future

Life for the Balkan country’s small trans community is difficult – but some activists are confident that the future is on their side.

Milan Djuric, who identifies as transgender and is a LGBT activist, describes a traumatic childhood growing up in Serbia. Asked about the biggest fear trans people in Serbia face, Djuric responds simply: “To be killed”.

READ MORE

 

[haiducii]

Wow that is sad

An elderly vicar who was dumped by his toy-boy husband weeks after buying him a flat has been left heartbroken after learning the 24-year-old Romanian model has already found a new boyfriend - called Jesus.

READ MORE

 

[haiducii]

Same sex spouses have same residency rights as straight couples, says EU judge

BUCHAREST, Romania — A gay Romanian-American couple is entitled to the same residency rights as other married couples in the European Union, a top EU legal adviser said in an opinion published Thursday.

European Court of Justice Advocate General Melchior Wathelet said the key legal issue in the case of Romanian Adrian Coman and his American husband, Claibourn Robert Hamilton, was "not that of legalization of marriage between persons of the same sex but that of freedom of movement of a Union citizen."

So while the 28 EU countries "are free to provide or not for marriage for persons of the same sex," they must not limit their application of spousal rights in a way that infringes "on the right of citizens of the Union and their family members to move and reside freely within the territory of the Member States," Wathelet wrote.

Coman has been fighting since 2012 to get his marriage to Hamilton in Belgium two years earlier recognized in Romania, which doesn't acknowledge same-sex unions. The couple lives in New York.

Romania's Constitutional Court asked the European Court of Justice, which is based in Luxembourg, to weigh in with its legal interpretation of the case. Thursday's decision is non-binding on EU court judges, who are expected to issue a ruling this year, but they often follow the reasoning laid out by advocates general.

"We are overjoyed," Hamilton said in a written statement. "It shows the Romanian authorities were wrong to refuse to treat us as a family."

Coman added: "Romanian citizens can't be divided into good and gay. We can't be treated as inferior citizens, lacking equal rights, based on prejudices that some have about homosexuality."

The couple's case is giving the European Court of Justice its first opportunity to consider if an EU directive on the rights of citizens and their family members to "move and reside freely" within the bloc applies when married spouses are two men, according to Wathelet.

Same-sex unions remain difficult in Romania. Homosexuality was only decriminalized in the conservative, Eastern European nation as Romania prepared to join the EU in 2002.

About 3 million people signed a petition backing a referendum to amend the Romanian Constitution so it explicitly states that marriage only can be a union between a man and a woman.

The Alliance of Romanian Families and the Coalition for Family, two conservative Christian groups which oppose same-sex marriage didn't immediately respond to requests asking for comment on the development.

Same-sex marriages or civil partnerships are recognized or have some protections in 22 of the 28 countries. Like Romania, Poland, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Lithuania and Latvia do not give same-sex couples any legal rights or responsibilities.

SOURCE

 

[haiducii]

Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabić had the best put down for homophobic minister

Last year, Ana Brnabić became Serbia’s first openly gay– and female – Prime Minister, despite some politicians refusing to support her because of her sexual orientation.

At the time of her election, Brnabić made history, not least because Serbia only declassified homosexuality as a mental illness back in 2008, with two thirds of the population believing that it should be reclassified as one in 2010.

However, despite Brnabić’s appointment hopefully paving the way for further progression in LGBTQ rights in Serbia, some top officials are still displaying levels of homophobia...

READ MORE

 

[haiducii]

Ljubljana Pride 2018

LGBT Pride parade in the Slovenian capital of Ljubljana on Saturday drew hundreds to march in defence of their rights.

The common thread of the numerous events of this year's Pride Parade Festival was intersectionality.

Intersectionality is a concept first introduced to the space of theoretical analysis in 1989 by Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw and in recent years it has developed into a crucial tool for understanding structural discrimination. It refers to the simultaneous experience of categorical and hierarchical classifications, including but not limited to race, class, gender, sexuality, and nationality.