LGBT community demands justice

The Gay Straight Alliance has called on MUP and the judiciary to solve the murder of transsexual Minja Kocis urgently and bring the perpetrators to justice. Kocis was fatally stabbed in the Belgrade district of Crveni Krst, and her body was discovered two days ago. LGBT community demands justice In a statement, the GSA says that the murder “clearly shows the amount of hatred, violence and justified fear for their own lives that lesbians, gays, bisexuals and trans-gender people in Serbia face on a daily basis.“ The GSA adds that Kocis’s death is the “crest of a wave of violence against LGBT people in Serbia of late.“ The group says that this month alone it has registered a number of instances of violence. The GSA, therefore, claims that the level of fear that the LGBT community is exposed is borne out by the fact that the victims of these attacks have told them that they do not want to report these incidents to the police for fear of being stigmatized, and that addressing the authorities will not bring any results. “The high level of intolerance towards the LBGT population in Serbia and the failure to resolve their status is clearly leading to tragic outcomes. The GSA believes that the murder of Minja Kocis should act as a final warning to society that it must systematically clamp down on homophobia,“ the statement continues. The GSA fears that unless the authorities take urgent and pertinent measures, this murder could be perceived as a call for an open wave of violence against the LGBT community in Serbia and asks the question of the state authorities and public opinion in Serbia as to how many more murders and physical attacks LGBT people have to endure before society realizes that homophobia is an illness. The group also calls on LGBT people in Serbia not to yield in the struggle for their rights and freedoms, in spite of the exceptionally difficult circumstances.

LGBT community demands justice

In a statement, the GSA says that the murder “clearly shows the amount of hatred, violence and justified fear for their own lives that lesbians, gays, bisexuals and trans-gender people in Serbia face on a daily basis.“

The GSA adds that Kočiš’s death is the “crest of a wave of violence against LGBT people in Serbia of late.“ The group says that this month alone it has registered a number of instances of violence.

The GSA, therefore, claims that the level of fear that the LGBT community is exposed is borne out by the fact that the victims of these attacks have told them that they do not want to report these incidents to the police for fear of being stigmatized, and that addressing the authorities will not bring any results.

“The high level of intolerance towards the LBGT population in Serbia and the failure to resolve their status is clearly leading to tragic outcomes. The GSA believes that the murder of Minja Kočiš should act as a final warning to society that it must systematically clamp down on homophobia,“ the statement continues.

The GSA fears that unless the authorities take urgent and pertinent measures, this murder could be perceived as a call for an open wave of violence against the LGBT community in Serbia and asks the question of the state authorities and public opinion in Serbia as to how many more murders and physical attacks LGBT people have to endure before society realizes that homophobia is an illness.

The group also calls on LGBT people in Serbia not to yield in the struggle for their rights and freedoms, in spite of the exceptionally difficult circumstances.