Thousands of pride marchers flowed through the streets of Sarajevo in the country’s first successful Bosnia and Herzegovina Pride march and festival last Sunday.
Flanked by an estimated 1,000 police officers who surrounded the parade route, the Pride marchers celebrated carrying banners with the slogan, “I Want Out.”
Marchers waived rainbow flags and sang anti-fascist songs while carrying signs that read, “Love is not a privilege” and “Queer Resistance,” as they passed through Sarajevo, Bosnia’s capital city.
There were no reports of violent attacks as in years past.
Bosnia is the last of the Balkan states that formerly made up Yugoslavia to never have completed hosting a successful Pride event. Previous attempts to produce Sarajevo Pride in 2008 and 2014 were shut down due to outbreaks of violence by anti-gay protesters clashing with police, who provided protection to marchers.
The day before the parade about 100 anti-gay demonstrators held their own march.
Several blocks away from the Pride celebration and march on Sunday, an Islamic group held its own demonstration and a few smaller anti-gay groups hosted events away from the festival.
Homosexuality has been legal in Bosnia since 1998. The country has some legal protections such as anti-discrimination laws, the ability to serve in the military, and a ban on conversion therapy, but it doesn’t have same-sex marriage and family protection laws. Stigma against LGBT people still remains strong in the mostly Muslim and Orthodox country.
The country also continues to face challenges due to its ethnic diversity.
“If there was no violence I wouldn’t be here today,” Lejla Huremagic, one of the Pride organizers, told the crowd on Sunday, reported the Associated Press. “This gives us strength and faith that prejudice against us will start to wane and that it will become better for all of us.”
The United States and European Union ambassadors supported the Pride parade and celebration.
Bosnia is currently in the process to join the E.U.
Bosnian music star Bozo Vreco called the mostly peaceful parade a “big step forward for Bosnia and Sarajevo, opening the doors to Europe and the world.”
“I think that love has won today,” Vreco, who wears dresses during performances to express both male and female sides of his personality, told Reuters.
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