Belgrade Pride to Highlight Calls for Same Sex Union Law

This year's Belgrade Pride, scheduled for Saturday, takes place amid calls for Serbia to adopt a same-sex union law and improve the rights of the LGBT community generally.

The main events are a walk through central Belgrade and a concert in the city centre. The walk will, among others, pass the buildings of the government, the parliament and the City Assembly. The slogan of this year's parade is: "Love is the law" ["Ljubav je zakon"].

The key requests of the Belgrade Pride organisers and supporters are:

• adoption of a law on same-sex communities
• a law on gender Identity and improved health services for trans people,
• the rapid and more adequate reaction of state bodiesto, and public condemnation of, hate speech and hate crimes against the LGBT community,
• adoption of local action plans for the LGBT community,
• apologies to all citizens of Serbia who were prosecuted and persecuted for their sexual orientation and gender identity before 1994 and
• education of young people about sexual orientation and gender identity.

Due to the COVID pandemic, Belgrade Pride 2020 had to be held online, and in order to participate in this year's walk, health protocols have been established.

Participants need to have a vaccine certificate or a negative PCR test not older than 72 hours, or a negative antigen test not older than 48 hours, or recovery confirmation not older than six months and not more recent than 14 days.

If the participant does not have any of these documents, however, a quick test is possible in front of the city park entrance.

Nikola Planojevic, from Da se zna! (Let it be known!), an NGO, said that since the last Belgrade Pride in 2019 the LGBT community had become...