User:Mihailooo02/LGBT history in Serbia

Notes for prof. Legate:


 * 1) This is only my contribution, not the whole article combined with what I plan to add. All content here is my contribution. Click here for the full article as it stands right now. The first two sections (Medieval Serbia & Ottoman Occupied Serbia) do not exist in the article right now and I would like to see them added. The last two sections do exist, and the content under is what I would like to see get added to them. When submitting these for the actual article, you can delete this, it is only for you to help you with grading. Thank you

Homosexuality in Serbia is usually thought to have been criminalized in 1860 during the rule of Prince Mihailo Obrenovic, and later decriminalized in the late 1970s. However, it is important to note that there are accounts of homosexuality going all the way back to Medieval Serbia, and that homosexuality was actually banned both by Church and secular law as early as 9th century A.D. . Hence, homosexuality in Serbia should be considered as something spanning across two millennia, first documented as early as medieval times and still very present in contemporary Serbia. MEDIEVAL SERBIA (780 - 1459)

The study of homosexuality in Medieval Serbia comes across one basic obstacle, which is the lack of adequately preserved sources. Writing, which was usually clerical in nature, largely did not address issues of homosexuality - at least not explicitly. Moreover, the vast majority of the Serbian population did not know how to write nor read at the time, so most day-to-day experiences were transmitted orally. Thus, a body of literature inquiring into homosexuality in Medieval Serbia does not exist nominally. However, certain written sources of the time which have survived, especially those of religious and legal character, do provide substantial insight into homosexuality in Medieval Serbia, and the public opinion of it during this period of time.

The first and only significant real-life event from Medieval Serbian history in which homosexuality is mentioned is a 13th century speech of St. Sava, a famous Serbian archbishop. In an address following the founding of the autonomous Serbian Church, he spoke of the importance of refraining from bodily sins, specifically referring to a sexual act between two men as one of them.

Another important source of insight into homosexuality in Medieval Serbia are questionnaires which the clergy used during confession sessions. For example, in Cin Svete Tajne Ispovesti, one such clerical questionnaire, questions can be found which clearly refer to acts of homosexuality. The biggest group of questions in this clerical questionnaire refers to the sexual life of the person confessing, starting with age of virginity loss and going all the way up to acts of incest. Somewhere in between, questions relating to homosexual behavior can be found. Namely, a priest would ask whether the person engaged in "unnatural" or "anti-natural" sins, referring to a sexual act with another person of the same sex, usually male (as women were largely marginalized in Medieval Serbia). Further, another way of asking if a person engaged in homosexual activity was to ask whether they had sexual intercourse with "a friend", once again referring to a person of the same sex, usually male. These questions were subtle yet straightforward, and they inquired into the core of a person's intimate life.

Further, Church law in Medieval Serbia also offers valuable insight into homosexuality during these times. Two principal monuments of Medieval Serbian Church law are the Rules of St. Vasilije Veliki and Rules of St. Grigorije Niski. These rules have been originally formulated in the Byzantine empire during the 4th century and later adopted in Medieval Serbia during the 12th century, when they were translated from Greek to Slavonic-Serbian. As such, they are a principal component of Nomokanon, a piece of Church law formulated by St. Sava around 1220. This document was the most important piece of Church law of the newly-founded Serbian Orthodox Church (est. 1219). Rules of St. Vasilije Veliki most strongly condemn homosexual behavior. Further, they predict a punishment of 15 years of anathema in case one is found guilty. Moreover, Nomokanon explicitly makes a distinction between three kinds of participation in homosexual activity: passive (postradati ot inogo), active (stvorit s inem), or both. Passive participation was considered a lesser sin than active, and active was considered a lesser sin than doing both.

Additionally, secular law also prohibited homosexual activity in Medieval Serbia. While Tsar Dusan's Code (enacted in 1349) does not inquire into homosexual behavior nor predict punishments for the same, secular laws prohibiting homosexual behavior have existed in Medieval Serbia, and these have been adapted from laws of the Byzantine Empire. In 13th century, during the time of Nemanjici (the Serbian dynasty which ruled from 11th to 14th century), Prohiron - a secular law code of Byzantine emperors - has been translated and adopted. In Slavonic-Serbian, it is known as Gradski Zakon. According to Gradski Zakon, both actors of a homosexual intercourse were to be sentenced to capital punishment, with the sole exception of children under the age of 12. This code of law had significant influence on the post-medieval Serbian society, especially during the times of Ottoman Occupation.

Finally, while these rules and codes were mostly addressing male homosexual behaviors, they were also applied universally to female homosexual behaviors as well.

OTTOMAN-OCCUPATION (1459 - 1804)

Following the Ottoman occupation, little information exists about homosexuality in Serbian lands. One potential explanation for this is the fact that Serbia did not have a state and hence did not keep any official records of its own. Further, interpreting Ottoman records is problematic, largely because of the fact that Turkish language does not distinguish gender by pronouns nor endings, allowing for an avoidance of the issue of homosexual behavior in the Empire. However, examining these records in context as well as inquiring into real-life accounts of visiting Western European diplomats offers significant insight into homosexuality in Ottoman Empire, and hence Ottoman-occupied Serbia.

In Western Europe of the time, the Ottoman Empire had a reputation for being a society prone to all sorts of homosexual behaviors. Accounts of French diplomats offering Mehmet "Efendi" a tour of Paris' prostitution districts full of young boys attest to this assumption about Ottoman society, and in particular its higher classes. Moreover, other Western embassy records suggest that same-sex relations between females (in particular in hamams) were also considered to be common in the Ottoman empire. The extent to which these were factual pieces of information (versus just assumptions), of course, remains hard to determine. However, significant accounts of homosexuality can be found in the poetry of the time. In most Ottoman love poems, the beloved was by convention considered to be male. Further, there existed a notion that the male was a perfect lover, being the only sex capable of true intellectual, spiritual, and erotic relationships. Lastly, several male poets of the time wrote about the beauty of young boys, sometimes even going so far as to specifically describe the most beautiful ones in some specific city.

In the society of the time, specific city locations had reputations of being places where young gay men would gather. Specifically, it was thought that the city coffeehouses - first opened in Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul) during the 16th century - were meeting places of male pleasure-seekers. These homosocial coffeehouses spread rapidly, and they particularly prospered during the mid-18th century. Further, prostituted entertainers - dancing boys - were often present at various events. These boys were usually not Turkish but foreign (because this kind of behavior was thought to be unsuitable for a Muslim boy) and they were femininely displayed. Being present during one of these events, Baron de Tott recalled of battles between Ottoman soldiers and sailors for the male dancers and their attention.

Last, and perhaps most important thing for Serbian lands of the time, is the fact that Janissaries were often involved in homosexual behaviors in the Ottoman Empire. The reason why this is so important for Serbia and understanding of homosexuality in Serbian lands of the time is the fact that most of these Janissaries came from them and the surrounding Balkan region. The primary idiom of same-sex relationships in the Ottoman Empire, for both males and females, was that there should be substantial age differences between the lover and the beloved, with the former being older than the latter. This was especially befitting of a Janissary lifestyle, where - among others - young Serbian kids were offered as devshirme and sent to palaces in Constantinople for training. Once there, they would not be allowed to leave until the Sultan believed they are ready to take on military or political positions, usually around ages 18 to 20. Janissaries were usually selected on several main criteria, including physical attractiveness. This, paired with their prolonged isolation in a same-sex environment, was considered to be the defining feature of their life, and it significantly influenced their views of love and marriage. Marriage was usually considered as something not fitting for a Janissary, and in the time of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, marriage was even forbidden to Janissaries. It was commonly thought that this was where they derived their military (fighting) dominance from.

YUGOSLAVIA

SFR Yugoslavia (1945–1992)

The oldest European lesbian and gay film festival was founded in Yugoslavia, particularly in the federal state of Slovenia in 1984. The context behind this is important, as the founding of this film festival followed a series of protests, particularly 1968 student protests in Zagreb, Belgrade, and Ljubljana. These students were unhappy with the current state of affairs in Yugoslavia and they demanded change. Further, the 1980s feminist protests are another important contextual factor to consider. The festival was originally called the Magnus Festival - an event that turned into the present-day Festival of Gay and Lesbian Film. For a brief period of time, the festival was banned, particularly in 1987 by the Council for Social Security and Health at SZDL and the Ljubljana inspection office. However, the very next year, it was held again, now renamed to be the Week of Gay Film Festival. Since then, it takes place regularly during one week at the beginning of December.

21st CENTURY

Despite the Pride parades encountering significant opposition by certain aspects of the Serbian population, in the 21st century, Serbia has seen a massive expansion of LGBT activism, with many new organizations being founded in the last decade of the 20th century and the first decade of the 21st century.

Labris was the first organization, founded in Belgrade in 1995, it drew its roots from the LGBT organization Arcadia, founded five years earlier in 1990. Labris advocates for the idea that a right to a different sexual orientation is a fundamental human right. Labris is dedicated to obviate all forms of violence against LGBT individuals in Serbia.

Gayten is an organization dedicated to respecting the fundamental right to a sexual orientation (similarly to Labris). It believes that violence against LGBT individuals has no place in Serbia, nor anywhere else in the world. Gayten is Labris's sister organization, also emerging from Arcadia.

Gay Straight Alliance (GSA) is an organization that was originally established in 2005. Its principal objective is the promotion and protection of human rights of all Serbian citizens, with a particular focus on individuals who identify as LGBTQ+. GSA's primary activities revolve around advocating for the rights of these individuals, as well as doing research on LGBT people in Serbia and their status and well-being. GSA also documents cases of violence and discrimination against LGBT individuals in Serbia.

Center for Queer Studies was established in 2010, and it is an organization which envisions a future society in which various different identities will not be sources of discrimination. Its principal mission is to remove inequality caused by a heteronormative standard in Serbia.

Gay Lesbian Info Center (GLIC) was founded in 2009 in Belgrade. It centers around bringing together LGBT individuals from all walks of life, as well as heterosexual individuals, in an attempt to engage them all socially and politically. The goal of GLIC is to - through this social and political engagement of people from various backgrounds - contribute to greater awareness of LGBT issues, rights, and culture in Serbia.

Further, in terms of LGBT activism in 21st century Serbia, the media and entertainment sphere is the main area where such activism takes place. It occurs at two levels: representation level and intervention level. In other words, one level is the level of addressing homophobia, while the other level is creating an LGBT voice in the media - potentially opening new media space. First documented televised appearance of an LGBT activist in Serbia happened on November 16th 1994 when Julie Mertus, a civil rights attorney who lived in Belgrade, noted that Lepa Mladjenovic (an LGBT activist and lesbian herself) appeared in the TV show "Nus pojave" on Televizija Art (Art Television).

Magazine Decko (meaning boy on Serbian) is the first LGBT print published in Serbia from 2001 to 2004. It was widely available, and it's main editor was Atila Kovac.

Numerous Pride parades have been attempted in Belgrade over the last 15 years, and these warrant special attention for two reasons. First, they represent a convergence of several ideologies: patriarchy, nationalism, a human rights discourse, democratization, and Europeanization. Further, another reason is that they are just a tip of the iceberg, offering insight into much more complex issues, which can be best seen from the amount of times the Parades had to be moved or canceled.

In the most recent of times, the issue of pride parade has gone beyond the issue of LGBT rights. The Serbian government and all state bodies are under the eyes of the international community, and Serbia needs to work toward resolving this issue if it is to fulfill all the remaining requests that are awaiting for inclusion into the European Union.