a controlled area, ah, you're watching daily news and that is only have time for after the break. don't film that meets activity, fighting for gay rights in balkan countries. and it to get you can get more news around the clock on d, w dot com. and in the d, w. ap, i'm any. conf is mecan and on behalf of the whole team here watching a p. c. a with a

new in the balkans, being openly gay, lesbian by or transgender is still dangerous. i received, i don't know how many death threats with people you can't just kiss your boy frontiers. if you will. the risk of getting be to not seen a little the way the balkans deals with queer people. with those who don't identify, as heterosexual, reveals much about the regions mentality these days. those 10 implants of nation and religion, there's now shoot down. so queen people in the arts community are now taking a stand and fighting for their rights. stuffed. i've changed millions

of people's minds about homosexuals in the stuff that over the way should we hide away the guy at all into his quite able to. milton the own. i only surround myself with love, rosalie, i haven't got time for any clown that ms. eileen with the army and the church are held in highest regard in serbia yet the capital of this very conservative country is also home to one of the most important medical centers for transgendered people. world wide. many sex reassignment operations are performed here

undergoing such a procedure was the most significant event in helena vacovich, his life. antipathy tyler dorothy operation lasted 5 and a half hours and i lost a lot of the lie or municipally. when i woke up, i was exhausted. but the 1st thing i said was give me my fell into their lives and i took the south field and posted it was the caption. hello world. in osler's, fall, helena vacovich is probably the most famous trans person in the balkans. helena served as an officer in the serb army, fighting for her country in war time and privately against her own identity. polka me to be said that i was born a boy, but honestly i never felt like it was only asking me, even at the age of 5, when my 1st memories, daytron, i thought it was normal to put on red lipstick so that it made me look nicer, it would have to say beloved, she at 19 vacovich married his high school sweetheart. it was true love and

she knew his secret. then he joined the military. when i call him, okay, bella told him, i wanted to kill dominique. good. what better way to do that than to go to military school, sit with you to become more masculine, to be a real man. yeah. but no matter how hard you try, if you can't change your nature national, i was just born this way. you know, so that the citizen the story of the officer who transitioned then became a woman, made headlines in serbia often use wake interviewed her. that book of ich had served her country made people sympathetic to her case when young way appearing to use on on a train estron. it was a war human, interesting story on top of your 250000 freight hobbles were distributed in serbia, also bombers and he stores that story completely changed attitude santiago, suddenly chance people were glued differently. i just heard from you a sticker transfer of them but the battle for acceptance hasn't been one yet.

belgrade is the economic, political, and religious center of the western balkans. but here queers can only really be themselves within their own 4 walls. most serbs believe homosexuality has no place in public life. the pride info center is the only place in serbia where the rainbow flag is always flying. i gotta do it is active here. she's been fighting against discrimination for over 2 decades and been through some terrible times. ologist say that i grew up feeling all alone that i was the only person in the world who was on the algae b, g i q person's at home. my parents were extremely violent. the school was also shell because i was constantly bullied and was abused. but this whole social climate was that homosexuality or transgender is and so on was something that he's

sick, something against god, something against the serbs, an orthodox identity. she says, soviet is still in the grips of a culture of violence. fostered by the yugoslav was by hooligans, politicians, and also the church, serbia was and still is an extremely a tree. are coal society with very straight to gender roles any if you stepped, you know, out of your gender role that could be, you know, sanctioned and cause you violence in serbia. physical violence is something that it was even incurred in 2001 i gotta helped organize bell grades 1st prize parade, which found a terrible end hooligans. and neo nazis who'd been egged on by priests and politicians, attacked the participants. it was really literally wars on the

streets of belgrade and the police didn't protect us. i remember imploring bagging and some of my colleagues police to react, but then they would say how, why should we we protect faggots, and dykes and trannies or whatever. i'll guitar still received threats, but she and her organization gettin continue to fight for the rights of trans people in serbia, for protection from discrimination and violence, and the recognition of same sex marriage. poor people in serbia still lived dangerously. that's why most of them haven't come out in the public, says film producer and journalist pray drug as deckervidge neg. then missing that thought, wagner dark, it's important that we're visible. it's the only way that an over time will reach a point where other people at least say so what it makes no different asian

artificial prey drug as deckervidge also believes coach he can help. so he founded the mailing co festival. the event is a showcase for queer films, but it's also more than that. yet. it worked avila peepin yesterday, e. m much in the face, that it's also about relationships are to give people the chance to meet some one. nice god, but never can i find love for not just sanks for a night of the guy. that's why we found it. the film festival, red checks. yonkers are backed up, all of the chava nip in film t. the music and literature role models are solely needed in the fight for equal rights in the balkans minimum on the, on the blood donor actor has come out here in the yes and that, that more people will come out and fight for their rights up. and then that will treat where people like they do in the west, emma, especially in the cartridge saturday to gaudy. who are the artists who dared to

live openly as quiz? the balkans biggest pop star comes from neighboring bulgaria. he provokes taking the identity game to stream. i welcome to sylvia. the bulgarian capital is poor, but sexy, grungy yet hip flamboyant and square residents say that sooner or later you fall in love with sophia. it's attractions include the national palace of culture, hand the alexander never sky cathedral, as is, is openly oh to new roma and his country's biggest pop star. he's also a panelist on the popular tv show, the mosque singer. oh oh,

i was when i was by told my mother, you'll see. i'll be famous one day my time. he was a pole in idle thought a minute. but his prophecy came true. as this is, mix of cloth and folk law has won him millions of fans. yet his appearance is a provocation for religious and conservative vogue areas. he used to perform in drag. now he's this sensitive muscle man. what does it say not to be honest, at some point, i found it down to dress up as a woman she because i didn't want to have to spend 3 hours preparing for a performance at each us at the capital. now i just put on jeans and a t shirt and i'm good to go or somebody, mr. tracy, as is supports a campaign and giving homosexual young people the courage to come out. the images

are being shocked by her steady, crusted, and much sought after fashion photographer, in bulgaria. ah, the monster with vital to just saying gay, they still is certainly not self evident in small towns of bulgaria, subtlety, perfect. so for the campaign that we wanted to get as many v i p some board as possible. aah! as is, knows what it's like to grow up gay in a country whose values are defined by the orthodox church and a deeply ingrained mancha cojo who got my composure my case. my mother brought me to a urologist. he examined my painters and declared everything's fine. he's no gale brought them is cause toughening. ha is as a kid and as i use i was terrified to being exposed little to me that us, i'm gay. ro martin and my skins darker than other people's premier. that's a problem everywhere. hassled segan him. as he says in bulgaria,

it's now easier to say i'm gay than i'm roma dusty. luckily i've managed to change millions of people's opinions about homosexuals in a neatly dean, but i haven't been able to change any one's about rosemont for austell. racism is still a very wide spread in bulgaria. doke was people make fun of how gypsies torkel chips is due for funding. and incidentally, i consciously say the word gypsy because i'm not afraid of it in a manner i use it as often as i want a little. she is the way as is present himself in public isn't just to show. it's also a political statement. one that's helping him change views about quiz across the balcony. it still takes quite a bit of courage to live as openly as, as is does in you members, state bulgaria, same sex marriage has yet to be legalized. here. still, the queen community is fighting for recognition within the country.

when yas in school rosky sits down at his canvas, he forgets everything around him. he's a drag queen and a d. j, as well as an internationally renowned painter and illustrator. a gina is a painting lawyer. this picture is a self portrait integral act, julietta intergalactic. here is my 2nd self. she's a drug personality here that are not your typical drug screening with more of a takes on a different personality. each time all go up, kate, justin's paintings and drawings are bursting with humor, joy to view, and in a beauty his queer art pears fishnet stockings with mustaches.

and the figures and my paintings and sketches all have something of me. i mean by the mood oh, the joy and love, the beauty and the magic you could see with justin has been active in sophia club scene since the collapse of communism in bulgaria, in 1989 here. everyone knows him and his alter ego, julietta intergalactic, the last reg personalities are important for the queer community that's in st st. feel self confidence and aren't afraid to show the true self. so public and all of these images are from drag shows in sophia, in the 1990s back then,

a completely new club culture sprang up here virtually overnight a everyone went to this 1st clubs and they had the 1st drug queens and go boys were lavish and extravagant shows the drag queens did more than just entertain . they aim to provoke and attract attention and use humor to question traditional gender roles. this made them political. these 19th videos belong to a new archive documenting the history of dragon bulgaria that yas and is now curating. and then on the us door, you wish it was like a current loughlen all that which was festive, don't clubs to day on. people put a lot of effort into there and here it was all one big party but then suddenly it was all over says stunning me upon a lot of who also experienced those club nights in the 19 ninety's. he's

a philosopher with an interest in bulgaria is queer history drop. oh quincy king and their performances are something that i already guard as a form of ours, the generation that was really active and shaped to the culture. here in the 90s, the prize they bathed was all. they had to leave what's on board, especially when it comes to queer cultural expression. i think a lot of people left cinema organizes the sophia queer form. now he's preparing an exhibition together with autism. christiane sherlock of sherlock, ubs, graphic, odd features, traditional bulgarian motifs, with a quick twist. but some he a feel his odd works, go too far for them. nation,

religion and family, and no laughing matter. the artist says bulgarians like to claim their tolerance, they're fine with quiz, just not in their own family. queer balkans, to knees on flay, we already know and assume that the culture is there. and my answer is rooted in industrialization. i wouldn't say that we ourselves, how strong enough to actually have a serious social, a bike through visibility. still homosexuality is slowly becoming more visible in the balkans on line in films and on t v. the final of the eurovision song contest, due to it's all can camp and eccentric acts. the e s. c has long been

a hit with the quick community, including the balkans quiz does regularly take part. still standing me upon your toes doesn't think the show helps to spell prejudices, eurovision bulgaria, especially for conservative in the action. that of forces is one of those arguments they use when they speak about gail ball. eurovision is like a kind of so clause or sub argument and in no kind of homophobic social. what you age of the embodiment of some kind of western up version the you vision party took place in a new queen cultural center, located at the headquarters of the organization single step. he was founded by entrepreneur, even dim of who aims to create security, visibility and acceptance. no, but the structural kilogram really. the past they sang a journey of

a 1000 miles begins with a single stable door knob posture. i believe we can achieve exempt in cancer sanity status. life premise. but even demos, organization supports queen young people and their parents. he says it's high time . such help is being offered in bulgaria. i think an indicator of where, where we are in terms of acceptance of algebra. yard people will be how many young people leave the country primarily because their eligibility i because that's just been the case for many, many years. even team of also left bulgaria to study in the us and then worked on wall street bought 4 years ago, a visit to his homeland changed everything. this young kid, i didn't know, he asked me camry talk. i don't have anybody to doctor. she shared with me that he

had tried to commit suicide after our telling his mom, she was gay and she had taken him to a psychiatrist to be short and dom vats story. this kid that was right in front of me really effect of my life a year later i came back in sure establish singles span exhibitions like this one aim to make queen love visible and give young people courage. displaying photos like these in public is still an exception in the balkans, while the exhibition made single step a target for nationalists and religious fanatics. right? from that, is it a cra results, johnny? they stock signs on the windows are very to came in here and attacked visitors projects, a canadian shill for meals, dance political provocation. he mcgonigal the cultural stuff. they're trying to win

vote set of queer people's expanse for bethany. and i stood up even dim of says there's just one way to counter such publication to stand up and be counted at this more to tower artists, septicemia is presenting a work which reveals her innermost thoughts. it's comprised of entries from her diary which have been super imposed and applied to the towers bare walls. they tell the story of her coming out after kissing some girl and the pair did. and they say so, you know, let's go get some coffee or whatever. and she'll be like, well, there is shocking come from. and so i started, you know, and realizing that may be my, i sexuality is not exactly the way that it's in are supposed to be. it was very um, i wrote though,

actually because i lost our lots of friends and i got into many fights, and it was difficult for a lot of people to actually accept this change. all that triggered in septa and outpouring all artistic creativity. this exhibition is entitled to forces that create one another. the one force is the individual sexuality. the other is societies powers of assimilation served or wants to know how the true self can survive in society without being dismissed by the majority in stereotypical fashion. for me just being able to tell a story and go it out in the so log submission as a gay woman and being completely, you know, open about that and leaving no question about it at all. that feels important for me as an artist, as well. in

a western societies where identity politics gets like it becomes a dirty weren't. i'm just because it's so, you know, talk about a q. you really feels like a bit like a small ambush. mind. aah! says just says for her, it's ultimately about more than just representation in politically correct language . it's about real acceptance in sylvia night has fallen. time for artist yas in school. rob skis, alter ego to put in an appearance. this is my 2nd so for julia to collect ticket drug teacher. yeah. think that go to her. that day. i mean me. so i think it's typical for bulgarians to celebrate for days on end. take life's

difficulties. slightly off from what i thought was the last of film, julietta is an institution in this club. she says drag culture is currently enjoying a renaissance, a swanky drag queens are the investors of the queer community. we are gale, they're simply brave with, but it's not all of the clubs are no longer just for gays and lesbians. they're mixed. and julietta isn't the only one to think that's a welcome development. i missed, but i thought you must look by that. we need such parties bad a dash of color to bulgarian reality, a white, which is sometimes pretty grey, about a show people you can be free part of don't i want to inspire younger people who are afraid of community? lots. juliette is mission plan a to spread love and good cheer for

a new the dawn of a new era, evident in sophia, can't yet be felt in sarajevo, the capital of bosnia and herzegovina. since the end of the ottoman empire, islam has been a major influence on society. here. many young people leave the country, hoping for better opportunities in the e. u. homophobia is widespread, but policy makers are now discussing legalizing same sex marriage, hoping that will help bosnia a seed to the in change may be slow in coming, but elaina molnar thinks it's better late than never at 70. she could finally become the woman she always knew she was

slow voices, rules to the guys felt like a woman, as long as i can remember, not to ship and i liked what the girls were wearing and wanted to dress like that would sit here today. it was worst when i was a vehicle i worked and the girls turned into pretty young woman. i cried champs is rochelle, so i'd still women's dress was fairly close lines and put them on to comfort myself, said mallow dish. we made alaina molnar at our community center in sarajevo. here she offers online counseling sessions for young people who severe nicole, the young trans people, call me kiera kil, that means mom. so mike, nestle, daniel, pauline and nick, most young people suffer from not being understood by those around that di niece, their family neighbors, et cetera, blushes and they hide their identity and dress bessolo men at 924, j in the end. they haven't achieved anything. made looking nothing, not unique or niche iniesta. elena knows those feelings all too well for years.

she also lived in fear and denial. but then suddenly everything changed. it also leads really to walk to trans people and sex reassignment surgery are taboo topics and bosnia and herzegovina. you know, when you seldom will, until 7 years ago, i didn't know anything about trims. local shelly, and then i heard about major hellena vocational serbia and started doing research on the internet. yes, i'm put you look and i discovered there were transcripts to pseudo. yeah. police, a lot of posted trans elaina molnar got to know helena brockovich, who gave her a lot of help and encouragement was, had the law if i had known all this before, i had started transitioning much sooner. only a butch elaina made great sacrifices to begin her new life in neighboring serbia. she found doctors who would perform the sex reassignment

surgery stunning off from sarajevo as dimly lit bus station. 70 you rode, elena molnar, embarked on the most important journey of her life. the bus would take her to the doctor's in belgrade. i woke up with her, but she could not afford the expensive preparatory treatments and long hormone therapy required with jesus. well, i couldn't even afford to rent a room, though i slept in ruins, a park floor at the last station. so i could save up money for the farm. them, fellows by tomorrow, foolish to sound too bad. it doesn't, isn't it? over the last 2 years i've been report goshen. so i'm no longer the person i used

to. she lived in a cocoon for so long the cello and now i'm free. so some book, i'm a woman, the juice. ah, it is a normal queer life possible in bosnia and herzegovina, amena, a mum of it is trying to make that possible at this area of open center. she campaigns for equal rights such as same sex marriage fights against discrimination and organizes aid for victims of violence. oh, lee, money, keyvonte goods. of course there are parents who still send their children to religious conversion. they're leaving something la fontose, about hardly any one talking about the national russian pro study math. a jani are unique where people live. yeah, pretty isolated. lions were barely visible in public road. i think that's why it's important to build up a network and strengthen the career community. nice mia grey, my mortgage. although some things have improved, i mean

a remains careful when she's out in public. for for some rosanna claim, i do look a little queer job as only with short hair and how i dress, you know, and they always because every, when i encounter a large group of men, i either wait until they're gone or across the street really say are really update in the war style. it's a constant battle for safety and acceptance, and of the gl or the law. oh, i don't think we've reached the point here that i as a woman who loves other women, could raise a child with my partner. ah swearing partner, corn dog, i think that would be impossible. it's me him on which that's why i would then leave this country boys. amanda nod undid them and she's not alone in thinking that way. many young people have long left in search of a better life. in the e, u, amina says,

the constant struggle for better living conditions, zaps her strength. she's only in her early twenties, but already exhausted. the thing that, that the deny that our society is making progress. but the future is our young generation muscle more slowly casting off the chains that still binders party under the sun. because i believe we're still living in a phase of war just without visible weapons. and vice versa, but we as a society still find ourselves in a very unsafe. supposing all, tonya gray and nessie gordon, blue in bosnia and herzegovina, queer people are confronted with prejudice. and the long shadows of war, the deep scars left by the bosnian war, which ended in 1995, i still visible in sarajevo to day. lena telemachus, which is one of the most prominent voices of young lesbian literature in the balkans in asia, fish,

amazon. there's less of the shell of them. i read a lot about what happened after the war in the late 19th. laura, we on them forced back then no one talked about queer people, l g, b, t your them at that familiar. it was really hard to meet others like yourself that and thus lack of contact created a great loneliness with salmon was below. was try not easy volkswagen sheila said, the saucy man, i'm not. she pulled these experiences into her book. call me esteban. it's a collection of stories about her family, the war and the love between 2 women. do you hear a volley of machine gun flyer, bullets hurtles through the air like gloating birds. then the country in which i lived last is peace. so my family inevitably lost its piece to

the scars left by the war still exist on walls and in people's souls. layla kellum was each was 12 when the war began, and 15 when it ended said this on a as day it on the war, the family breaker calling and then the hopeless time after the war and feeling different than other people that brought up. not knowing any one who feels the same way. why and who i could tell why really was the last thoughts one another at some point, all those things caused my break down to load up. so swamp layla says the war also sparked violence within families. that's being carried on into the younger generation. it's an ongoing trauma for people in bosnia and herzegovina. and its impact can be seen in literature,

art and music to this day. dennis and i came on that as they some might say, the war is over a presented in our literature and ours today, i'll have hostile toys about the war lasted a long time and was very painful. nickina for every single one of us and for our society, molly dahlia resort. no. those tenant context. next we had to pre a door in a north of the country, a 6 hour drive from sarajevo. mm. the wall also reached here. images from one of the near by concentration camps shocked the world in 1992 a bronco. chilly bark lives in pre a door. he's gay in a place where being openly queer is still dangerous. that's almost an hour.

a being attacked physically, psychologically was in here. it's impossible for 2 men to hold hands on the street or to be affectionate with one another in a cafe. the way heterosexual couples are because the risk of violence is very high or was in town look now see, love that all this here, unfurling a rainbow flag in front of a city hall can cause a full blown scandal. all the all or still doesn't do you know? yes i am in antonio's violence and heat are always present when we talk about queer people in our society of those boston also, they thought incidentally, the hatred of queers is what? bonds far, right? groups together. the most part doesn't o'clock, we're dealing with his organization called fought. he tries to teach young people empathy and offer queer youths a safe place to meet out. i was the head to going eternal bonnet,

bull street in bosnia herzegovina. there still is not a single cafe for queer people, ought for an eob, no case exists where they can meet in public without having to put on an act, a mom or what we really need a reliable institutions and talk which supports us when it's necessary. like a down a nas, i, stars eyes the bottom in 2019 bronco. witness to a historic moment 1st hand when his country hosted its 1st ever pride parade in sarajevo. the police presence was huge. fearing attacks, participants were only allowed to carry rainbow flags within the secured areas. ah, bronco helped organize the parade. a mazda, thanks for coming you to into the streets of sarajevo, to fight for equal rights in bosnia herzegovina.

ah, that isn't sales volcano at that moment so but when i saw the huge number of people who were there and i was so happy and content and coupled with the previous fear and sudden oblong of those feelings completely overwhelmed. me. me think that i would almost be his surveys are being able to go out in public health and to show that we exist and the problems we have every day. it was more that was a huge success or are generally dot dot parade was a really, really big step for the school. know all we spent 15 years fighting to make that parade also on the honor drama, which led us advice on dog j. o. donna bessie also taking part in his historic parade, was singer bushel rachel esther in bosnia herzegovina. he's known and loved beyond

the borders of his homeland. let me say that i really believe that today we're coming out of the darkness and stepping into the light. that's the best description for what's happening here today. oh, it's been a scant laugh connect because i don't have a nice night hear a door towards europe is opening up. why do you guys have it all day? ah, boucher fletcher finds his inspiration in the mountains. ah, definitely may have been many there are. yes, this is one of my favorite places or 1000000 die above it. it's a place of crashed i sat through. i think we have a stronger connection to nature and to society called prong annual dynamic tuscany . so i try to devote myself to these things like an archaeologist to log you will again deck the big ones and legends of this place, quite slow into my lyrics because my p santa

ah makes system music mixing traditional bulk and folk songs sung at weddings and funerals with muslim and jewish prayers, and fragments of ancient byzantine liturgy. he finds material for his films in archives, old collections and museums with some. all right, so now i took what is really pure, whatever type the call to prayer or ah, took is anti scope songs which are consciously close to god, to nature and to self reader disarmament. phoebe, i always say not and saved eyes my kindred spirit. i have dogs, hon. more than my marriage. i could fill my marriage with ardent and with music, i knew that the only edmund for the was ah, bozo is a spiritual person. he rises early trains sings and reads.

then he has tea in this tea house that's become his 2nd home. bozo exudes a great sense of in a peace. but his appearance has also made him enemies in a country strongly influenced by islam and orthodox christianity dallas their threepenny thread. but whether you're queer or gay, or just trying to live your life, you really need support wanted to, they might to someone who will help you in this battle. who got question um, because it's really, really tough to be a pioneer. yeah. and change things as an individual, cowboy dean for me, any thought neg attorney maybe that wasn't my primary motive. my teeth. alec was more but i think my musical helps people to accept their differences between us. his chiva lowered the bar in the balkans. there are very few queer people who express themselves as freely as he does and people love him for it. in the late 19

ninety's, everything was about showing national and religious solidarity. it was important to belong, not to be different. so for many in the balkans coming out his queer is still taking a big risk given what the point of google may keep our mouth video. my a valve cover. tina oddler z on i think things will get better big. i believe that's good. me egg it unfortunately we're still in constant distract, crazy, lazy. this does stems from a huge sense of insecurity and fear of living our own life on a project like, oh, a dumb, woozy. come you live below. music has always been my protective shield, you know, to pronounce your love, you know, to pronounce your sabbath. i found freedom, laugh and myself, the through muse, any casting for the lp. ah, this film is about fear and courage, art and power,

violence and love. so what will the future bring for quiz in the balkans? well, i would like to see where both of us is. just more awareness of called queried yes, denied them. i hope that the clear community will become strong guidance and that more people will come out. because they're out there that people will finally start living without steal, travel across the vehicle is serbia wants to be a chew democracy in mass protected minority or swaim. and you know, my seneca wasn't fighting for you, which was that were free and equal and accepted to what need any question we did this, you know, because we want to love all we want to love. i really hope

that you're not in 10 years the i would you be gay. people chose to stay in this country. nice relatives. in my wildest dreams, in vision bulgaria as a queer vacation paradise. in the balkans started about our new day, nick and over father b. let love the winner. ah ah. is the end of the pandemic in site? we show what it could look like. return to normal and we visit those who are finding it difficult. with success

in our weekly coven, 19, especially over 9 special in 30 minutes on d. w. to the point of strong opinions or positions international perspectives. sweden and finland want to join the nato military alliance out of decades of neutrality. so will it make them safer? a nato stronger, and this is russia writes available, frightened them before find out until the boys chocolate to the point 90 minutes on d. w. a. when i arrived here, i slept with people in a room nights in. it was harsh. fair. i even got white hair is learning the german language. yeah. a lot. this kids to me and they go,

but uniquely to interact with you want to know their story, migrant verifying and reliable information for migrant. ah ah, ah, his date any news live from berlin, ukraine's president says the dumbass is completely destroyed. a lot of may, zalinski says russia has turned the eastern region into hell. he calls the bombardment of some better than yet brutal and senseless, and accuses russian forces have stopping civilians from flaying also on the.