FollowGay Straight Alliance (GSA) today held the first in a series of planned meetings with parliamentary political parties which have answered the previous call by GSA to open a dialogue on issues which are important to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) people in Serbia, such as strategies for reducing violence and discrimination, and promoting the freedom of gathering, i.e. the possibility of organizing the first successful Pride Parade.
The first meeting was with the Serbian radical party (SRS), which was represented by Vjerica Radeta, MP in the Serbian Parliament and high functionary of SRS, while the delegation of GSA was led by Boris Milićević, the president of GSA.
The meeting was held in a respectful atmosphere, and the issues which were discussed were the following: the escalation of violence before and after the unheld Pride Parade in September 2009, the need for a higher efficiency of government bodies to work on the prevention and reduction of violence and discrimination in the society and against all citizens of Serbia, including GLBT people, which is primarily related to the work of the prosecutor’s office and the judiciary.
Serbian radical party maintains the position that it will not support the Pride Parade in Belgrade, because for SRS holding such an event is directly opposed to family and traditional values which are at the core of this party, but agreement has been reached between SRS and GSA that violence must not be a form and a means of dealing with opponents and people of different opinions, and that SRS will condemn every form of violence and discrimination.
Gay Straight Alliance sees this meeting as a positive and a very important first step in establishing a wider social dialogue, which as a final goal has the reduction of violence and discrimination against GLBT people. GSA wishes to thank Serbian radical party for this dialogue and the conclusions from this meeting.
In a future period GSA will also hold meetings with G17+, Democratic party, Union of Hungarians of Vojvodina, Liberal democratic party and Socialdemocratic union. GSA expects that other parliamentary parties will also accept the GSA’s call for a dialogue on the above mentioned topics.
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