Burgeoning Drag Scene Pushes Boundaries in Macho Serbia

Drag is a visual art form that plays with gender, sexuality and power. Typically associated with the LGBT community, modern drag mostly contains drag queens: typically gay men adopting female personas who then perform lip syncs, dances or skits in front of an audience.

But women are increasingly getting involved in drag as well. The number of drag kings - women performing as men - is growing.

However, it is a surprise that socially conservative Serbia has a drag scene at all.

"The LGBTQ+ group here is one of the really marginalized groups," said Marko Milosavljevic, 27, a programming assistant at the Youth Initiative for Human Rights, an NGO dedicated to reporting on human rights violations and campaigning for fair laws.

In 2001, the first Belgrade Pride parade ended in violence. Subsequent attempts to stage parade resulted in cancellations and riots.

Sandals and glitter - an inevitable part of any drag performance. Photo: Monica Starr

"Homophobia in Serbia was deeply rooted in the 1990s, when a huge stigma was built up through the government controlled media, and when being gay was the worst thing somebody could be," recalls Marko Mihailovic, 25, a Regional Program Assistant at Civil Rights Defenders and member of the organizing committee of Belgrade Pride.

For LGBTQ+ people, 2009 marked a change of policy. For the first time, the Law on the Prohibition of Discrimination in Serbia included language that protected people from discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation.

The timing was not coincidental. That year, Serbia applied for membership to the European Union - which prides itself on upholding diversity and tolerance.

In 2014, the first Pride parade without homophobic incidents...