Pride March in Belgrade

Belgrade Pride 2021 (BETAPHOTO/MILOS MISKOV/DS)

The 2023 Belgrade Pride march took place on Sept. 9 without incident and was followed by a concert.

Several thousand marchers did a loop through the capital's central streets and sent a message in front of the Serbian parliament and Belgrade City Assembly that these institutions' employees were responsible for the lives of all Serbian citizens, including those belonging to the LGBTI+ community.

They said they refused to live in a Serbia in which the regime tried to tell the people that the system was not failing, where decisions were made based on opinion polls, where gender or sexual orientation could not be picked. They held a large banner reading, "We are not even close," which is the slogan of this year's Belgrade Pride, at the front of the march, and a sound truck that played music, BETA's journalist reported from the scene.

Organizer Goran Miletic said their demands would take nothing away from a single Serbian citizen, but would help the LGBT community. He stressed that the demands remained the same since 2014: legislation on same-sex unions and gender identity, quicker processing of violence against LGBT persons and others.

Only Serbian EU Integration Minister Tanja Miscevic was present to represent the government, he said. Members of the diplomatic corps and certain opposition politicians also marched.