Queer choir marks 25 years since Belgrade's Bloody Pride

The Queer Choir of Belgrade marked 25 years since the capital's first LGBTIQ+ Pride march — remembered as the Bloody Pride — with a protest on Republic Square.

Those gathered stressed that LGBTIQ+ people are part of the wider social uprising, that they are fighting against the regime, that violence against anyone is unacceptable, and that no one is free until everyone is free.

Dina, a representative of the Queer Choir of Belgrade, said that 25 years ago, on this same square, through the efforts of anti-war and queer activists, Belgrade's first Pride march was held on a wave of social change.

“They thought back then that they had won a free society, but it was not free for all of us. That day, a revolutionary desire for freedom was nearly drowned in blood — but we stand here today to tell them: you did not silence us,” she said.

Twenty-five years later, Dina said, they stand on Republic Square with the same desire and the same message — “There is room for all of us” — and with a demand for a law on same-sex unions and gender identity.

Source: Danas. English adaptation: gay-serbia.com.