The Sarajevo Open Center said it was pursuing "multiple" other lawsuits in the Bosnian courts. Pandurevic says it's also a reminder that "freedom of speech is not absolute, and people must be aware of the messages they broadcast to the public, as well as the repercussions of those messages." "It's been a long time - almost 13 years since the law was passed - for such a verdict against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, or sexual characteristics," he said. Homophobic Hate Speech On The Rise In Europe, Says New Reportĭarko Pandurevic of the Sarajevo Open Center, the NGO that filed the case and provides legal counsel to advance women's and LGBT people's rights, calls it a "historic" verdict. It is the first acknowledgement by a Bosnian court of discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity, advances the fight against hate speech, and could augur well for aggrieved Bosnians' hopes of seeking protection from state and local institutions. The verdict in the three-year-long case "prohibits any further action" by the defendant "or similar actions that violate or may violate the right to equal treatment of members of the LGBTIQ community." The Sarajevo Municipal Court in April ruled in favor of activists who sued on behalf of the LGBT community against a former assemblywoman who publicly urged state officials to keep "people like this" away from the rest of society.
She and other members of Bosnia's LGBT community have spent more than a decade being disappointed by the lack of progress despite the enactment of the Law on Prohibition of Discrimination in 2009.īut a landmark verdict by a court in the Bosnian capital could signal a shift toward greater protections for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and intersex individuals.
It was a total moment of segregation," said Bajraktarevic, who has since become an activist for LGBT causes. "I left the club because I didn't want anyone to perceive me as a predator. In her work as a speech therapist, "almost none of the parents wanted to leave their children with me, and when they noticed I was in the room, would slam the door and leave."Īfter her first trip with her volleyball team, the club told her that, as a lesbian, she either had to quit or change in the men's locker rooms. Wherever Bajraktarevic went, she said, discrimination followed, creeping into nearly every aspect of life. "It was only later that I realized that this was unequal treatment of me as a member of the LGBT community," she said. In the end, the medical staff wrote in her file "that I 'felt like a man,' although I never said that." "My whole examination then came down to the question of my sexual orientation," she told RFE/RL's Balkan Service. On a visit to the gynecologist, for instance, after responding to a question about sexual activity or potential pregnancy, she made reference to being a lesbian. In Israel, the Foreign Ministry raised a traditional Pride flag for the first time at its Jerusalem headquarters.For all of Dina Bajraktarevic's adult life, Bosnia-Herzegovina has had a law in place banning discrimination, including based on sexual orientation or gender identity.īut the 25-year-old native of Tuzla, in northeastern Bosnia, has never felt protected, particularly when she was at her most vulnerable.
Clark Government Center - a signal that the county’s Pride celebration “includes everyone, especially L.G.B.T.Q.+ people of color and the trans community,” Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said. Miami-Dade County also raised its first Progress Pride flag at the Stephen P. “Today we celebrate love,” she said on Twitter. “We proudly stand in solidarity and allyship with the LGBTQ+ community,” she said on Twitter.Īnd on June 14, Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland raised the Progress Pride flag for the first time over her department. people of color, as well as pink, white and light blue, meant to represent transgender and nonbinary people. The Progress Pride flag - a modification of the traditional Pride flag - adds to the familiar rainbow field a chevron of black and brown stripes, meant to represent L.G.B.T.Q. Granholm flew the Progress Pride flag for the first time over the department. On June 2, Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. First Progress Pride flags over federal buildings