Europe ♥ Gays? Europeanisation and Pride Parades in Serbia

This chapter demonstrates the increasingly relevant symbolic link between EU accession, the paramount political process in contemporary Serbia, on the one hand, and various forms and strategies for the liberation of non-heteronormative sexualities in this still highly patriarchal country, on the other. I approach this hegemonic relationship between Europeanisation and LGBT activism primarily through the history of Belgrade pride marches/parades. By amalgamating a variety of social practices, forces, and interests that revolve around poorly known and deeply stereotyped sexual behaviours together with the discourses of European integration and the multifaceted narratives of national belonging (and exclusion), Pride parades constitute a matrix which weaves together sexual, political, legal, and religious dimensions and in annual cycles sharpens and exposes the complexities of LGBT-related politics and activisms.