Activists gathered around the 'BH Pride' association, the organisers of the first Bosnian pride march, have launched a campaign to share the experience that the LGBTIQ community members faced throughout the pandemic, which pushed them "to the edge of the society." Pročitaj više

“Pandemic affected the mental health of all citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as emphasised on many occasions through media outlets. However, the experience of the LGBTIQ persons were entirely neglected in public space,” the association said on Monday, adding that this has pushed further the entire LGBTIQ community “to the edge of the society.”

“The fact that the interest of media in the reporting on the first pride march exceeded all our expectations only speaks about how powerful this protest is and how much it can contribute to the representation of the LGBTIQ-related topics in the public space,” the statement added.

The activists stressed that the media reporting on marginalised groups must not be done selectively or be motivated by grand public events only.

“Therefore, this campaign is aimed at drawing the attention to the trend of neglecting the LGBTIQ-related topics in the media landscape during the pandemic,” the association said.

The campaign is aimed at sharing the experience of this community members during 2020, which slightly differ from the experiences that other fellow citizens went through during the pandemic, and which are specific for the LGBTIQ persons only and include fear from gender and sexual orientation based violence, the activists stressed.

“We hope that you can feel the depth of our fears through our stories – from the concern about the safety of our families, colleagues, and friends as well as the fear for our own lives, through the concerns about our jobs and economic independence, the fear that we will not be able see our loved ones due to epidemiological measures, to the facing with the loss of freedom,” the activists said, adding that this period has also brought some positive experiences, such as recognising the personal capacities and needs, new friendships, love and support.