Bravely Visible

On today’s IDAHOT we do not want to repeat the messages already addressed to institutions and BH. public. All that we said last year is still stands for this year.

Today we have a direct message for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

You are brave because, despite economic and social problems, you decided to stay and live in BiH, and when you get out of the public space in to your private,, you cannot expect comfort and understanding because you will rarely find it in your family. Someone will decide to leave this country – and this requires courage. It’s often different with friends. Friends understand: you can talk to them about breakups, and about the fear that you do not know how your future will look like in this country, what if you can no longer be “only roomates” for a landlord – where will you be then?

However, even if they understand that you are a lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or intersex person, and you can talk to them about these things, your family and friends will ask you to be careful. Attention means keeping silent, hiding parts of yourself, watching how you express yourself: clothes, make-up, straight and thrice-measured words. Although on the personal level this advice comes out of the best intent, they want to protect you from the evil that both family and friends see for themselves because they see violence that happens, read comments with a call to violence on Facebook pages of the web portals, which are all relevant to the people.

Announcement of the BH. Pride March made visible the violence that LGBTI people experience in public places, schools, their families, in health institutions. In all those places where security should be guaranteed, and where there are no official persons who would react to this violence or at least hear with understanding and know what to do if they report it. There is no media to point to a reluctant institution because no international day is celebrated.

The Announcement of the Pride March has made all of us lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people visible. Especially those whose gender expression does not correspond to binary male-female matrices. A similar situation occurred in 2008 and brought the community back into silence and invisibility.

We did not allowed this to happen to us in 20014, and we will not allow it in 2019. What we are different about now is that we are stronger and more persistent, we have organizations working with the judiciary and the police, regardless of their disagreement, and other institutions which respond to violence. And we will not allow them to close us in four walls and forbid us to go onto our streets.

After all, we have each other, and that’s why we will do everything to protect you.

See you on September 8 in Sarajevo, and in the meantime!