Gay Serbs see glimmer of hope in Eurovision glitter

By Ellie Tzortzi

BELGRADE (Reuters) - The last time gay men and women took to the streets of Serbia's capital, they were beaten by nationalist gangs while police looked on.

Seven years from their first and only Pride march, activists now see the glitz, media attention and gay tourists coming to Serbia with the Eurovision Song Contest as a big chance to come out again, louder and more confident than before.

"There are no gay celebrities in Serbia, nobody's out," said Predrag Azdejkovic, one of a handful of openly gay Serbs. "Eurovision is so gay, so camp, it'll be a shock to the system."

"Yes, maybe it reinforces stereotypes, so people think all gay men are effeminate and all lesbians drive trucks. I have no problem with that. All visibility is good and we must use it."

Homosexuality is a taboo subject across the Balkans' largely conservative and patriarchal societies, where many people view it as a treatable mental illness.

Boban Stojanovic, who runs the gay rights group Queeria with Azdejkovic, said homophobia in Serbia stems from an obsession with national identity in the 1990s, a notion of aggressive masculinity created by and for the Yugoslav wars, and the increased influence of the Orthodox Church.

"Before 1990 the gay scene was more free. Although formally illegal, homosexuality was tolerated because the social climate was more liberal," Stojanovic said.

"But when Yugoslavia started breaking up, there was a rush in all the republics to define a very clear national identity. Today, to be a Serb means to be Orthodox and heterosexual. Being Serb and gay is seen as incompatible. The macho warrior culture of the 1990s is the root of Serbia's homophobia today."