Belgrade, August 29, 2022
rfl.fr
Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić announced on Saturday that the EuroPride festival won’t be held in Belgrade as scheduled on September 12-18 due to the “significant crisis in Kosovo.”
The head of state didn’t announce a total cancelation, but only that the LGBT event can’t be held next month. At the same time, Vučić said he’s “not happy about” the decision to cancel EuroPride, “but we can’t do it all at once,” reports Politico.
“Of course this jeopardizes minority rights and that is a problem for us, but at this moment the state is pressured by all kinds of problems,” Vučić said.
EuroPride is a pan-European LGBT event hosted by a different city ever year. The organizers have claimed that the President has no right to cancel the event, and that it will go ahead as scheduled.
Nevertheless, the President’s decision was met with praise by the Holy Synod of the Serbian Orthodox Church and Orthodox society.
“The Holy Synod of Bishops is confident that holding this ‘parade’ in order to popularize the LGBT ideology imposed on Europe and the so-called Western world in general and, unfortunately, on our people, wouldn’t benefit anyone, but, on the contrary, would cause additional tension and new divisions among the faithful of the Serbian Orthodox Churches and other traditional Churches and religious associations and outrage and protest in Serbia,” the Synod stated.
The bishops also stressed that the entire Serbian people, its political leadership, and the Church need to be united, without the presence of a “fifth” or “sixth” column.
The Serbian people are “called to be Orthodox Christians and Serbian patriots, the cherished people of St. Sava and the Holy Prince Lazar.”
The faithful also showed their stance, taking to the capital streets in another prayerful protest on Sunday, the first having taken place on August 14.
Addressing the crowd, His Grace Bishop Nikanor of Banat praised the authorities’ decision to reverse “the desecration of our country, our Church and our family,” saying Serbia should ban such LGBT propaganda as was done in Russia.
According to a statement on the EuroPride site, “Neither the hosts of EuroPride 2022, Belgrade Pride, nor us as the licensor will cancel EuroPride in Belgrade.”
“The right to hold Pride has been ruled by the European Court of Human Rights to be a fundamental human right. Any attempt to ‘ban’ a Pride is a breach of Articles 11, 13 and 14 of the European Convention of Human Rights, ratified by Serbia as a member of the Council of Europe.”
Follow OrthoChristian on Twitter, Vkontakte, Telegram, WhatsApp, MeWe, and Gab!
