Date: Thu, 27 Oct 1994 08:17:40 +0200 (DFT)
From: Bj|rn Skolander <Bjorn.Skolander@nordiska.uu.se>
Subject: HELLO FROM ARKADIA-BELGRADE, SERBIA 




        Dear Friends,
        We would like to present ourselves by this short article.
        Hope to stay in touch with you.

        Arkadia is the first ever Serbian lesbian & gay organization and  
it exists since 1990. It was founded by several enthusiasts as an attempt  
to beat the despair of personal isolation and constant humiliation. Until  
the summer of 1994, Arkadia's existance was totally illegal. With the law  
which was incriminating male homosexuality, it was not possible to  
register officially.
        Two years ago one of the founders was arrested and taken to the  
police headquarters where he was questioned about Arkadia's members, about  
its financiers (!we never had any-all we did was donated by us!), about  
the "plot" against the state, etc. After he got out, it was obvious that  
they beat him heavily...   And that is just one drastic detail on the long  
list of Arkadia's troubles.

        We never found out who initiated the law reform on male  
homosexuality. It was an absolutely silent proposal and after it was  
adopted nobody (I am talking about our media) announced that the change  
has been made.
        Before July, 14th. 1994, sexual intercourse with consent of both  
adult male partners was considered to be a criminal act and the punishment  
was upto one year of imprisonment.
        Now, on the paper we have something great. Homosexuality is no  
longer a crime as long as both partners are above the age of 14(legal age  
in Serbia is 18). Getting involved with someone under 14 (no matter if it  
is homosexual or heterosexual relationship) is punishable and treated as a  
crime. For not obeying this age limitation, the punishment is from six  
months to five years of prison.
        We don't have any records that anyone was arrested and put to  
trial for being gay during the last thiry years, but there were several  
police raids and a lot of gay people were taken to the police headquarters  
where they have been beaten and humiliated.
        Since the beginning of war in Yugoslavia, violence against gay  
people has increased. Street gangs, mostly young people (16-25), are often  
chosing gay cruising areas to "show their strength" and one of the latest  
incidents ended with a stabed gay man who is afraid to report it to the  
police.
        Even that the law has been changed, nothing has been accomplished.  
Police are still more willing to accept the stories like " He was trying  
to make pass on me so I had to hit him ..." and humiliate the victim  
instead of punishing the attacker.
        Lesbians are totally invisible as always. Recent law reform didn't  
bring anything for them because they never "existed". Arkadia made a short  
questionnaire on the streets of Belgrade about lesbians. Results were more  
than sad. More than 60% of questioned citizens answered that lesbians are  
sick and should be treated in the hospitals, some of them said that they  
would put them in gheto and over 40% of them said that they even would not  
go to the same shop if they knew that the shop keeper is lesbian. Of  
course, we were expecting something like that because our whole tradition,  
education (especially that) and recent "macho" war policy is excluding  
everything what is out of the frame of "patriotism and political  
correctness."

        Nevertheless, the change of our Criminal Law brought more space  
for Arkadia to start its work with full legacy. We still don't feel that  
our work can be continued without fear, but somebody has to start.

Jelica Todosijevic for Arkadia


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