Roma Rights are LGBTIQ Rights!
16 August 2016
“We are rarely proud when we are alone.” – Voltaire
This week, pride means many things to many different people. The Pride movement encapsulates for a short time in one community, the struggles and aspirations, similarities and differences, and above all else, solidarity of LGBTIQ peoples. This week, people can be proud together in defiance of intolerance from the outside. When pride exists in seclusion however, in a community which excludes some of those within it through its own pride in tradition, intolerance and bigotry, this must be identified and challenged. In order for Roma rights to flourish in wider society, we need to self-examine our own community values towards LGBTIQ people. Only when full equality exists within our own society, will we be able to take the fight in solidarity, and with Pride against anti-Gypsyism in Europe.
This year, for the second time ever, an International LGBTIQ Roma conference took place from August 11-12 in Prague, Czech Republic, in the lead up to the annual Prague Pride. Organised by ARA ART, a Prague-based Romani association actively working on addressing the issue of multiple discrimination within the Roma community, with support from the Open Society Foundations, and this year, the ERRC. The conference was a dynamic and empowering event where LGBTIQ Roma from across Europe could come together to share experiences, activist strategies, and life stories.
On Wednesday, ERRC representatives joined the event and delivered a one-day workshop on Roma rights and intersectionality to ROMA LGBT activists from the Czech Republic. During the workshop, activists had the opportunity to learn more about ERRC’s work on Roma rights and intersectionality as well as to share their feelings and perceptions regarding the problems they face as a sexual minority, both inside of the Romani community and in larger society. This workshop was followed by the Second Annual International Roma LGBT Conference attended by LGBT Roma activists from countries all around Europe (Germany, Spain, France, Romania, Serbia, Bulgaria, Austria, Hungary, Slovakia, and Wales). During the conference each participant had the opportunity to present their work on their particular topic and address some of the challenges faced by the LGBT Roma community in their countries.
ERRC Board Member William Bila succinctly explains the intersectional nature of the conference which allows people to simultaneously express different identities which do not necessarily exist at the expense of one another:
"I am 100% American, 100% Slovak and 100% Roma and 100% gay. I don’t believe in being or doing anything only half way, so I am here because I want to be 100% visible as such within our Romani communities as well as to the outside world.”
Among the presentations was that of Sandra Selimovic a Serbian Romani actress, director and filmmaker living in Austria, whose work “Mindj Panther” addresses the phenomenon of anti-Gypsyism and the fight for equal rights for Romani women.
(Click the image to watch)
Throughout the week, cultural events took on the subject of discrimination through a forum theater, an exhibition and the opening concert. The LGBTIQ Prague Pride 2016, held on Saturday 13 August was the spectacular culmination of all these events. Organisers estimate this year’s attendance at around 40,000. The international group of Roma LGBT activists (including ERRC members) had their own float, decorated with balloons, Roma and rainbow flags. Undoubtedly, this was the float that attracted the most attention, in part thanks to the infectious tunes blasted out to hundreds of eager, dancing Roma and friends. Hundreds of individuals were constantly approaching the float willing to join, take photos or simply enjoy in the rhythm and beats of the Romani songs played by our very own Romani DJ (DJ Gypsy Robot, Hungary). The Pride March on Letna Plain was followed by a festival with live Romani performers such as Jan Bendig, Crazy Goddess, Erika Fecova, The Fellas, Pavlina Matiova, Le Chavendar and many more.
As a Romani women who grew up in a traditional Muslim Romani community in Macedonia, never before have I had the opportunity to reflect on my sexual orientation openly, to network with sexual minorities from my community, nor take part in such a diverse, well-organized and colorful event as the Prague Pride. Heterosexuality was and is still perceived as a norm within my family and the situation is not much brighter in wider society in general. Many schools still do not provide courses on sexual orientation, medical professionals treat homosexuality as a mental disorder, police officials instead of protection use violence against LGBT, and the heterosexual Roma who demand equality and acceptance from the majority, do not offer that acceptance to the homosexual members of our own community. This internal acceptance and tolerance is a key element for achieving ultimate equality for all. Only when these positive changes take place, will all Roma be able to communally strive for equality in society. The ERRC is already actively participating in the fight for Roma Rights from an intersectional perspective by not forgetting that the fight against anti-Gypsyism involves everyone, and that Roma rights are also LGBTIQ Rights.
(Image: Romea.cz)
