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True colors

Organizers call landmark gay rights event a success, despite extremist violence

July 2nd, 2008 issue

By Michelle Dobrovolny

MICHAEL HEITMANN/The Prague Post
An estimated 500 demonstrators turned out in support of LGBT rights, while right-wing extremists protested the Brno parade June 28.
MICHAEL HEITMANN/The Prague Post
Organizers of the first Czech celebration of the international Rainbow Parade hope the event will become a tradition to foster awareness.
MICHAEL HEITMANN/The Prague Post
Police arrested 15 people on charges related to conflicts.
MICHAEL HEITMANN/The Prague Post
A gay rights activist recovers from the effects of tear gas after right-wing extremists attacked the crowd on Brno's Freedom Square.
For The Post

Brno, South Moravia

In the wake of the country’s first of its kind gay pride parade — and the violent homophobic reaction it drew — organizers are optimistic about the event’s potential to raise social awareness.   
“Rather than just inspiring anti-gay sentiments,” said parade organizer Jolana Navrátilová, “we feel it created a space for discussions on LGBT [lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual] rights, apart from discussions on the extremist movements and the possibilities to stop them.”
Right-wing extremists protested the June 28 parade, throwing eggs and tear gas at the 500 gay- and lesbian-rights demonstrators assembled on the city’s Freedom Square, injuring 20 people. Two of the injured and one police officer had to be taken to the hospital.
“We expected resistance; we knew about it, but we did not expect they would get so close to the gathering,” Navrátilová said.
In contrast to the carnival atmosphere of parallel parades held in Berlin and Paris — where tens of thousands of reveling demonstrators turned up — the presence of 150 skinheads and rightwing conservatives at the Czech Rainbow Parade made for a tense event, set to the very unnerving backdrop of fully geared riot police trying to quell the protests.
Despite the fact that 200 police officers were sent in to control protesters, the parade route had to be cut short due to fears of violence, which proved well-warranted. Police made 15 arrests on charges related to conflicts at the event.
Although there have been demonstrations in the Czech Republic in support of gay rights before, Saturday’s event was the first organized parade to be held as part of the worldwide Rainbow Parade movement, which began in 1970 in New York City to commemorate the Stonewall Uprising, when gay activists resisted harassment from New York police officers.
Tensions built over the days leading up to the Brno parade as anti-gay posters began appearing around the city. The conservative groups National Party and National Renewal Action 99 had initially planned anti-gay demonstrations to take place the same day, but last week were officially prevented by the city, which said that only one group can organize at a time.
However, that didn’t deter a small contingent of roughly 25 National Party supporters from assembling at one end of Freedom Square, defiantly holding up signs reading “Bráníme hetero rodinu” (Defending the hetero family) in the direction of the gay activists.
“I came today because I am for the traditional family,” said 27-year-old Jaroslav Kučera, one of the National Party supporters. “It is my opinion that [the activists] can do what they want, but they shouldn’t protest openly like this.”
Despite the conflicts, parade organizers said they were pleased with how much support this first event received.
“We think the Queer Parade was a success,” Navrátilová said. “There were hundreds of supporters, be that LGBT people or the general public, in support of the LGBT community.”
Fellow organizer Lucie Hanyášová of the lesbian rights group Girls in Brno was likewise optimistic.
“This first one is really important to start a tradition,” she said. “We are really a free country now and we think we are ready for this kind of tradition.”
The road ahead
While gay activists in the Czech Republic saw a major victory with the passing of legislation to allow same-sex marriage in 2006, they say there are still major inequalities in Czech law. One of the biggest issues, according to Hanyášová, is adoption within gay families.
“If something happens to the biological parent, then the partner who is not the biological parent has no rights and the child can’t stay with the family,” she said.
Nonetheless, the Czech Republic is seen as one of the more accepting of homosexuality in Central and Eastern Europe as it is the only country from the former Soviet bloc to have legalized same-sex partnerships.
A group of a dozen gay activists from neighboring Slovakia — where same-sex marriage is still illegal — came to the parade in Brno because there would be no similar event in Bratislava.
“Slovakia is influenced by very conservative Catholicism,” said Slovak Lubomír Tancer. “Some people are very, very intolerant and they are not able to change their mindset. But we are trying to change this and change the society’s approach toward our community. It’s a hard fight, but it’s very important.”
Parade organizers say they plan to hold a similar event next year.
Michelle Dobrovolny can be reached at news@praguepost.com


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