From: JULIE.MERTUS@ZAMIR-BG.ztn.zer.de (Julie Mertus)
Date: Fri, 21 Oct 1994 23:52:00 +0100

        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, 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.

        We don't have any space of ours so we have meetings at the Women  
Studies quarters. I will give you my private phone and fax number:
it is +38-111-637-670 (Jelica Todosijevic) and for the postal mail:

                ARKADIA
           c/o Lepa Mladjenovic
             Brace Baruh 11
            11 000 Belgrade
              Yugoslavia

        We have issued two bulletins until now, but we don't have them  
prepared for e-mail. I have tried to transfer files from disk to e-mail,  
but every time I do that text on e-mail becomes very wide. Hopefully, I  
will find someone to explain that to me. You see, this modem (and  
computer) is not mine, but of a very dear friend (she is American) who is  
very helpful and supportive. She offered me to use her computer whenever I  
want for Arkadia, so this e-mail address is valid for another year(that is  
how long she is staying here in Belgrade). By that time we will try to  
find a way to provide a computer for us. Do you have any suggestions whom  
could we address for that? My friend said-Digital Queers. Do you have  
their e-mail address or fax number?
        OK Ron, I hope this was not to chaotic letter.
        Greetings from Serbia.
                                Jelica Todosijevic