Source: Aktuálně.cz, TOL Magazine
Brno, Czech Republic -- What is billed by the news site Aktuálně.cz as the first gay and lesbian march ever held in the Czech Republic will be staged, not in Prague, the country's cosmopolitan capital, but in its second largest city, the provincial capital of Brno.

The so-called "Rainbow Parade" event, planned for Saturday 28 June, has already caused controversies among far-right and Christian groups, Aktuálně reports.

The tradition of gay pride marches emerged in the USA in the 1970s and is now a commonplace in most of the major Western cities.

Despite frequent roadblocks, Central Europe has already seen queer parades in Warsaw, Budapest, Ljubljana, Sarajevo, and Tallinn. To the north, in the Baltics, LGBT activists and international supporters in Riga, Latvia finally managed to march on the street in a relatively peaceful Pride parade last month.

"We want the Czech Republic to join this tradition," said march spokeswoman Andrea Jochmanová. 

It comes as something of a surprise that the Czech Republic hasn't joined in on that kind of activism already because in July the country will mark two years since the legalization of same-sex partnerships, a landmark achievement after years of political struggle, and one that set the country apart from its more reserved Central European neighbors.

The Czech Republic’s changing laws and attitudes, and the increasing ease of travel between EU countries, has made it a popular destination for gay and lesbian tourists. Prague's plethora of bars, clubs and notoriety as a gay pornography hub haven't hurt.

Prague has more than 20 bars and clubs catering to a gay and lesbian clientele according to TOL, an online Czech magazine.

"Prague is now the happening city for gay tourists," touts the website of Prague Saints, a British-run travel agency. Prague Saints offers gay holiday packages featuring bars, restaurants, hotels, theaters, guides, and taxi service. According to the Czech gay website 004.cz, 600,000 gay and lesbian tourists visit Prague annually, nearly 10 percent of the total foreign visitors to the Czech Republic.

But the relaxed and welcoming atmosphere in Prague isn't always duplicated elsewhere in the county, and may mask the underlying intolerance even in Prague.

Despite the relative permissiveness of Czech society, fear of discrimination causes some gays to hide their sexuality.

Studies show that Czech gays and lesbians still face discrimination in the workplace. According a 2003 report published by Gay Initiative, 65 percent of the 267 people questioned said they encountered some form of discrimination, Pavol Szalai writes in a major feature story for TOL Magazine on on the state of the Czech LGBT rights movement.

On top of that, Szalai reports, more than one-third reported verbal assaults and 15 percent experienced violent behavior by someone who knew or assumed that the victim was a homosexual or bisexual.

Discrimination is more widespread in the country’s rural areas. One gay man reported in the poll that his Czech employer “conducted research to find out if the homosexual employees tend to call in sick more often than the heterosexuals.”

Gays and lesbians will ask for tolerance during the Rainbow Parade in Brno next week, but it is more than clear some people are not willing to tolerate them.

The National Party (Národní strana) sees the event as a "pressure on the majority, pressure that is disgusting and awkward, pressure leading to social acceptation of the children being adopted by homosexual couples."

Members of the party are prepared to protest against the march.

Christian activists plan a prayer meeting at Brno´s Náměstí Svobody square.

So far, the parade organizers were not able to say how many will attend. They hope for hundreds of participants.

In the TOL Magazine feature, Szalai writes that the Czech Republic still lags behind some Western European states that have gone much further to ease barriers for same-sex couples.

There is low public support for allowing gay and lesbian couples to adopt children, Szalai writes, citing several recent polls on the subject. Homophobia lingers, and there is a growing concern that not enough public resources are devoted to addressing the growth in HIV infections, particularly among homosexual men.

Nevertheless, gay organizations from across the region continue to look to the Czech example. Its law on registered partnerships makes the country a uniquely liberal outpost in post-communist Central Europe. Julius Kolenic, head of Slovakia’s Inakost (Otherness), says one of his organization’s biggest concerns is the "the homophobic speech of some [Slovak] politicians." Regarding same-sex couples’ rights, Kolenic laments that "once again the Czech Republic is ahead of us."

Tomasz Szypula of the Polish Campaign against Homophobia says that compared to the Czechs, Poles are "very conservative, religious, very focused on family." In Poland, even the left-wing parties tend to be conservative on gay rights issues.

But many worry that the kind of activism that brought about the partnership law and the relaxed social climate in Prague has died out in the country as an older generation of activists has burned out and left the movement.

Szalai reports that those who are familiar with the history of the LGBT movement there say that the struggle for a gay-friendly Czech Republic was an uphill fight led by a handful of activists. Slavomir Goga, spokesman of the Gay and Lesbian League, did not feel support from the community while lobbying for the law along with Hromada’s Gay Initiative.

"I consider the success a miracle," he told Szalia with what the reporter calls "a hint of weariness in his voice."

Activists considered the law only a partial success since it falls short of the kind of marriage equality they had hoped to achieve.

"In the end, we were fed up," Goga said. "People from the community were uninterested; the maximum folks did was talk about it over a beer. When the president vetoed it, they said 'What a stupid fool,' but they wouldn't protest."

Parliament narrowly overrode President Vaclav Klaus’s veto to pass the Registered Partnership Act into law.

Szalai found that the kind of attitude that Goga recalled is even more prevalent today.

The reporter talked to two young men relaxing at Club Valentino in an affluent Prague neighborhood, who "may be more typical of a once-active gay movement that has turned docile."

Pulling on a cigarette, Jaromir Kamenik told him, "I don’t engage and I don’t know anyone from the activist community." Although he and his friend, Jan Mendi, agree that the gay banner must be carried on, they do not see themselves as the next standard-bearers.

Even Goga, 27, who might represent of the younger generation of activists, admits that the organization he represents just barely exists.

Officially, the Gay and Lesbian League exists. In reality, it is inactive. "We met for the last time in January 2007," Goga told TOL Magazine. "We don't have an office anymore."

Goga told Szalia that the burn-out rate for activists is high, and that careers take precedence over the cause, offering his own situation as an example.

"There is a need to take it further," Goga says, "but it is unthinkable that I would again organize someone to do something. I finished school, started a new job this year. I work full-time, don’t have a personal life, and didn’t really have one the whole time."

And so that parade next week in Brno may represent more than just Pride. It might be a sign of hope for LGBT people in the oasis of tolerance in Eastern Europe that their situation could improve further.

Full article: First Czech Gay Pride has Brno up in arms | Aktuálně.cz
Frozen in Success | TOL Magazine