FollowGay Straight Alliance (GSA) issued questions today concerning LGBT rights and the status of LGBT people in Serbia to all presidential candidates, parliamentary electoral lists leaders and primary candidates on the lists. This action is conducted within the campaign “It matters!“ which started immediately after the announcement of elections and which aims to present the positions of candidates concerning the status of LGBT population and concrete measures the candidates would take to reduce violence and discrimination and increase tolerance towards this population if they were elected.
During pre-election campaigns citizens want to get to know opinions and positions of candidates on many issues that are important for individuals and the entire society. One of those is certainly the attitude towards LGBT people, who according to all global estimates comprise 5-10% of any population and who are in Serbia one of the most endangered groups subject to constant violence, discrimination and homophobia.
In the campaign for coming elections, GSA therefore decided to ask questions to candidates concerning the status of LGBT population in Serbia, the status of human rights of LGBT people and their programmes related to this issue, in this way enabling voters to get a clearer idea about the positions which LGBT people will find important when deciding who to vote for.
GSA feels that these issues must not be ignored and treated as less relevant, and hopes that all candidates will answer the questionnaire. Furthermore, GSA is not expecting a repeat of the situation of 2008 presidential elections when in a similar campaign GSA received no answer from the two favourites Boris Tadić and Tomislav Nikolić.
Questions for candidates:
1. What do you feel is the current status of LGBT people in Serbia and the status of their human rights?
2. Do you have a plan for increasing tolerance and reducing violence and discrimination against the LGBT population and what concrete steps will you take in this direction?
3. In the next parliamentary session are you and your political party going to support the Amendments and Addendums of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Serbia concerning the introduction of hate crime?
4. What is your position on holding the Pride Parade and will you support it with your presence or in some other way?
5. Why are there no out LGBT people among the candidates on the election ticket of your political party and will you take certain steps to enable this in some of the future election cycles?
GSA will present all received replies within the campaign “It matters!“ on the site www.gsa.org.rs and on social networks.
GSA Info Center
