"We know change is coming, but it's coming too slowly."ĭelgado identified one of the jailed organisers as Aliomar Janjaque, 31, a psychology student and president of the Foundation LGTB Reinaldo Arenas in Memoriam. beaten in Granma, Pinar del Rio and Santiago," Delgado said. homosexuals are still being arrested and fined in Villa Clara and. "Despite a so-called opening in the area of gay rights. The activists were seeking an apology from the government for its past repression and, in some cases, incarceration of openly gay citizens, and the inhumane treatment of prisoners with Aids, according to Unity. We're slowly gaining a space in our society and that's important." "We don't need to be instructed by people in Miami or any other part of the world. "Important strides have been made," he said. "Our society needs to be sensitised," said Jandri Penton, 22, a teacher.īut a passer-by, Felix Lopez, 40, a personal trainer who said he was gay, dismissed the gay pride march as unnecessary. Only one other marcher appeared for the event at Don Quixote park in the Vedado neighbourhood. "They were to be here with our written demands but now we cannot carry out our activity."ĭelgado said he had no details of the arrests. "The president of the Cuban League Against Aids and the president of the Foundation LGTB Reinaldo Arenas in Memoriam have been arrested," Delgado said.
Recent surveys show that over 70 per cent of Montenegrins still consider homosexuality an illness and 80 per cent believe it should be kept private.Activist Mario Jose Delgado said two organisers who were to deliver a set of demands to the Justice Ministry were detained on Tuesday. Some groups used Facebook as a open call for violence against this population. While the ruling party and civil society groups see the march as a key test of the country’s political maturity, Church leaders, pro-Serbian oppostion parties – and most of the public – see it as an insult. The planned pride parade in this small Balkan country, which has been seen as especially unfriendly towards gays and lesbians, had literally split the Montenegro public in half. Minister Ferhat Dinosa was infamously quoted as saying that if it is true that there are gays in the country, “then it is not good for Montenegro”. While Prime Minister Igor Luksic has pledged his support for the parade, saying that Montenegro had to show it was a society that was ready to accept differences, the country’s minister for minority and human rights has not welcomed the idea of a parade. He said the event would not be rescheduled until the population received the support of the minister for minority and human rights, and “until the prime minister or his deputy publicly support the parade by taking part in it”. He maintained, however, that the decision to cancel the pride parade had been prompted by a lack of state support to this population. They said that they were still considering whether or not to file criminal charges against the attackers,“ Cimbaljevic said Balkan Insight. “Fortunately, they were not seriously injured and the reason for the attack is that someone probably did not like how they were dressed, or something like that. The second attack came after the concert, when a group of young men physically attacked two members of the LGBT Forum Progres. The concert was organised by the NGO to mark the World Day Against Homophobia. Zdravko Cimbaljevic, director of the LGBT Forum Progress, Montenegro’s first gay and lesbian NGO and the organiser of the parade, told Balkan Insight that the first attack occurred during a concert of the Croatian group Lollobrigida in downtown Podgorica, when tear gas was thrown into the crowd.