LGBT rights in Serbia

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) persons in Serbia may face legal challenges not experienced by non-LGBT residents. Both male and female same-sex sexual activity are legal in Serbia, but households headed by same-sex couples are not eligible for the same legal protections available to opposite-sex couples.

Law regarding same-sex sexual activity

Male same-sex sexual activity in Serbia was banned by law since 1977, but there are no records that law was ever applied. Laws never addressed female same-sex sexual activity, mostly because of lawmakers' negligence on the topic.

In 1978, male homosexuality became legal in Vojvodina, the northern province of Serbia, when Serbian provinces had a certain degree of law-making power; this move complied with relaxed public opinion on this issue in the province. The legalization lasted until 1990, when Vojvodina was reincorporated into the legal system of Serbia, which was forbidding male homosexuality at that time.

Finally, in 1994 male homosexuality became legal in Serbia, with an age of consent of 18 for anal intercourse between males and 14 for other sexual practices. Then, an equal age of consent of 14 was introduced on 1 January 2006, regardless of sexual orientation or gender.

Recognition of same-sex relationships

While same-sex couples have never been recognized by law, the new Serbian constitution, adopted in November 2006, explicitly defines marriage as being between a man and a woman in Article 62. However, other forms of recognition, such as civil unions or domestic partnerships, are not explicitly mentioned.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia in January 2011 gave permission to the British Embassy in Belgrade to conduct civil partnership ceremonies between two Britons or a Briton and a non-Serbian national. The French Embassy in Belgrade also offers Pact Civil to French citizens and their foreign partners.

Military service

In 2010, Serbian Army declared that openly gays can join the professional army, but that news was not published in large number of media. However, Serbian LGBT rights activists transmitted the news to their community, encouraging them to apply.

Discrimination protections

Until 2002, Serbia had no special protection on LGBT rights.

In 2002, the parliament approved Broadcasting Law, with Article 21. which entitles Broadcasting Agency to prevent spreading of information encouraging discrimination, hate and violence based on sexual orientation (among other categories).

In 2005, through a change in the Labor Law, discrimination based on sexual orientation in employment was banned. However, there are no public records of prosecutions being made.

In 2005, the parliament approved Law on Higher education, which guarantee equal rights regardless of sexual orientation (among other categories).

On 26 March 2009 the parliament approved a unified Anti-Discrimination Law which prohibited, among other things, discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and transgender status in all areas.

Laws against anti-LGBT speech

Since 2003, regarding hate speech in media, there is a ban against discrimination based on sexual orientation. It was introduced in the Information Law. Additionally, the same ban existed previously in the Radio Emitters Law, adopted 2002. However, these laws are not obeyed, and Radio Emitters Agency, an independent governmental agency that should force those bans on registered emitters, hasn't done anything so far, regardless of LGBT NGOs demands. The Anti-Discrimination Law of 2009 further prohibits hate speech on the basis of sexual orientation.

Living conditions

Gays and lesbians continue to face discrimination and harassment in Serbia. The majority of Serbian people display vast anti-gay attitudes. There have been numerous instances of violent gay-bashing, the most extreme during the first Belgrade Gay Pride.

There were three other plans for Pride Day celebration in Serbia, one in Belgrade in 2004 initiated by activists around GSA and another in Novi Sad initiated by LGBT Vojvodina in 2007, but because of low cooperation between activist groups and inability to provide adequate safety against violence due to limited funding, these two never made it. The third one, Belgrade Pride 2009, was canceled for similar reasons – police could not guarantee security to participants. The second Belgrade Pride Parade took place on 10. October 2010, with participation of one thousand people. It was followed by violent reaction and riot that gathered 6000 anti gay protesters and extreme nationalist group members.

Official medical textbooks that classify homosexuality under "Sexual Deviations and Disorders" are widely used through. After several requests to do so, Serbian Medical Society has finally stated that same-sex orientation is not a disease in official letter to Labris in 2008.

The gay scene is small but growing. As of 2011, Loud & Queer operates monthly club nights at different venues throughout Belgrade. Pleasure and Apartman operate Fridays and Saturdays in the city. Bars and cafes include Fenix, Smiley, Espeho, 24 and Mystik in the capital (as well as the gay-friendly Downtown Cafe), alongside others in the downtown areas of Novi Sad and Subotica.

The protection of LGBT people in Serbia is further complicated by the existence of various nationalist and pro-fascist associations like 'Obraz', '1389' and 'Stormfront', which are supported by some right-wing political parties. These groups have, on several occasions, made their threats to LGBT people publicly known, though the media and the police are increasingly reacting to deter such threatsb publicly.

Development of LGBT rights and culture in Serbia is contributed by LGBT sites such as the oldest Adriatic LGBT Activism mailing list in the region, GayEcho and Gay-Serbia; the last two are online gay portals, mostly.

The depth of Serbia's homophobia played a role in the breakup of Yugoslavia, describing a probable gay accident as something different: one of the major landmarks of escalating tensions between Albanians and Serbs was an affair involving the forceful insertion of a bottle up the anus of Đorđe Martinović, a Serb resident of Kosovo. At first, he said[citation needed] it was due to accidental injuries, but later he said that an Albanian had done the deed, leading to mass media attention and a nationalistic outcry in Serbia. There was later circulation of nationalistic material comparing the "impalement of Đorđe Martinović" with Turkish forms of torture due to the shared Islamic religion between Albanians and Turks.