amusement park, as part of celebrations to mark 50 years on the throne. defying her age, the 80 to 2 year old even took a ride on a roller coaster. the main celebrations have been postponed to later in the year due to the pen. spain is sweltering under very hard temperatures for the time of for this time of year, parts of adequacy. you have reached 40 degrees, a record for may. heat. warnings are enforced for 10 regions, and forecasters say it'll be next week before relief comes. that's it for now. i'm nick spicer with a south bay market is going to spend the rest of our life behind bars for mercury. berkeley got a

psychosis. isn't awful. illness mothers. nightmare stores. june 4th on d. w. ah ah . in the balkans, being openly gay, lesbian, by all transgender, is still dangerous. i received, i don't know how many death threats them with the city, but you can't just kiss your boy frontiers if you will. the risk of getting beaten, not seen a little of the way the balkans deals with queer people. with those who don't identify, as heterosexual, reveals much about the regions mentality these days isn't. don't any influence of nation and religion is now shoot down from so quiet. people in the arts community are now taking a step and,

and fighting for their rights stuff. i've changed millions of people's minds about homosexuals. let's stop alphabetical. why should we hide away? the guy at all just is quite a brutal milton. the own ione. surround myself with love rosary. i haven't got time for anything around that. ms. eileen with the army and the church i 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 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 selfie 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 wartime, and privately against her own identity. bolcom. yep. isn't that i was born a boy, but honestly, i never felt like it was on national, even at the age of 5. when my 1st memories day trial, i thought it was normal to put on red lipstick so that it made me look nicer. that

would have to said be left. 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 luck, better way to do that than to go to military school. it almost 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. yes. about the storage. the story of the officer who transitioned then became a woman, made headlines in serbia, often use wake interviewed her. that book of it 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 assholes. obama dunnahugh stores that story completely changed. she had santiago, suddenly chance people were glued differently. i just heard from you

a sticker transferable 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 persons at home my. 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 trans january's and so on was something that he's sick, something against god, something against the serbian, or to dogs, 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. our whole society with very straight gender roles. and the, if you step, you know, out of your gender role, that could be a, 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 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, the missing they thought vice north dar. 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 difference in order. so pray drug as deckervidge also believes co chicken 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 pippin yesterday. emma, to me fair, that it's also about relationships are to give people the chance to meet some on nice god. but never can. i find love for not just sanks for a night. ah, the guy, that's why we found it the film festival, red checks. yonkers are backed up all the sharon yet 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 40. who are the artists who dare to live openly as quills? the balkans biggest pop star comes from neighboring bulgaria. he provokes taking the identity game to the 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 masked singer. oh oh, i was when i was by told my mother, you'll see. i'll be famous one day my crew. he was a pole little thought a minute. but his prophecy came true. as this is mix of hoffman, 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 the sensitive muscle man. ah, 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, the stupid transit a as is supports

a campaign and the giving homosexual young people, the courage to come out. the images are being shocked by her steady crusted, a much sought after fashion photographer in bulgaria. the marketing with vital to just saying gay, still is certainly not self evident in small towns and bulgaria. subtlety, perfect. so for the campaign, 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 macho. cojo began my confidence, that in my case, my mother brought me to a urologist. he examined my penis and declared everything's fine, he's not gay. over them. is cause tough for me. ha. is as a kid and as i use i was terrified of being exposed. little to me is ross. i'm gay . ro martin and my skins darker than other people's premier. that's

a problem. everyone hasn't seen him. as he says in bulgaria, it's now easier to say i'm gay than i'm roma. this is dusty. luckily, i've managed to change millions of people's opinions about homosexuals in a need to have been, but i haven't been able to change any one's about romance. for austell racism is still very wide spread in bulgaria. doke was people make fun of how gypsies torkel block 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 e, u members state bo guerria, 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 thing my. after that, i had this picture is a self portrait, intergalactic julietta into electric. it is my 2nd self. she's a drug personality. that's not your typical drug screening, but more of a soldier takes on a different personality. each time all go up to the us and paintings and drawings are bursting with humor, joy to view, and in

a beauty his queer art pears fishnet stockings with moustaches and play the figures and my paintings and sketches all have something of me by the mood. oh, the joy and love, the beauty and magic, i can 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, a last reg personalities are important for the queer community that changing the domain st. strains, your self confidence, and aren't afraid to show the true self. so pulling all of

these images from drag shows in sophia, in the 1990s back then a completely new club call. just bring up here virtually overnight a everyone went to the 1st clubs and they had the 1st stroke, queens and go boys. there were lavish and extravagant shoes. 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 politic. these nineties videos belong to a new archive documenting the history of dragon bulgaria that yas and is now curating. and i know me are story, but it was like a kind of loud and all that which will chest of the eclipse today. i. people put a lot of effort into there and here it was opened big party but then suddenly it was all over says stunning me upon

a yacht of who also experienced those club nights in the 19 ninety's. he's a philosopher with an interest in bulgaria is queer history, drugs, all queens and kings and their performances are something that i already guard as a form of ours, the generation that was really active them shape the culture here in the ninety's the prize they bathed was on the how to leave, what's important, especially when it comes to queer cultural expression. i think a lot of people, less cinema organizes the sophia queer form. now he's preparing an exhibition together with artist christiane sherlock av jelic of graphic, odd features, traditional bulgarian motifs. with a quick twist,

but some he, if 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. wearable cons 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 often enough to actually i was curious socially by through visibility. still homosexuality is slowly becoming more visible in the balkans on line in films and on tv. define all of the eurovision song contest due to it's often camp and eccentric acts, the

e se has long been a hit with the quick community, including the balkans quiz does regularly take part. still stunning may punch. little doesn't think the show helps to spill prejudices or eurovision in 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 subaru. humans in, in though kind of for almost 4 weeks social, but you age and the embody monks of for some kind of for western up version the you vision potty took place in a nuclear cultural center located at the headquarters of the organisation single step. it was founded by entrepreneur yvonne demon who aims to create security, visibility and acceptance. now put the structural club emily. in the past,

they sang a journey of a 1000 miles begins with a single stable dog. not posture. i believe we can achieve exemption cranford sanity stand to slice gramma spectra. 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 to his homeland changed everything. this young kid, i didn't know, he asked me, general dog. i don't have anybody doctor. she shared with me that she had tried to commit suicide after our telling his mom, she was gay and she had taken him to a psychiatrist to be cured. and dom that's story.

this kid's dad was right in front of me. really effect of my life a year later i came back in sure establish single stem 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 with the exhibition made single step, a target for nationalists and religious fanatics. right from the legit across results journey they stuck signs on the windows are very to came in here and attacked visitors. now, projects of canadian shill for me, dance political provocation, a negotiable network of adults from stuff that they're trying to when vote said a queer people's expense, products are back near the threat. even demo 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 pat didn't they? they say so, you know, let's go get some coffee or whatever. and she'll be like, what are you talking of? and so i started in and realizing that may be my ice actually is not exactly the way that it's, you know, supposed to be it was very, um, i'm brutal actually because i lost our lots of friends and i got into many fights and it was difficult for lots of people to actually accept this change. all that

triggered in septa and outpouring of artistic creativity. this exhibition is entitled to forces that create one another. the one force is the individual sexuality. the other is society's powers of assimilation. self though, 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 throw it out in the so looks a bit on as a gay woman and are 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, talked about a q,

you any feels like a bit like a small ever national. ah. served us says for her, it's ultimately about more than just representation in politically correct language . it's about real acceptance in sophia night has fallen. time for artist johnson school, rob skis, alta he goes to put in an appearance. this is my 2nd. so for junior to collect ticket drug teacher. yeah. think that a got a good day. i mean me too. i think it's typical for bulgarians to celebrate for days on end. take life's difficulties slightly off from whatever floor the full class or film. julietta is an institution in this club. she says, drag culture is currently enjoying

a renaissance with one dried queens or the ambassadors of the queer community gale. they're simply briefing with audits and 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 book, but i, you must book by that we need such parties bad a dash of color to bulgarian reality, a white, which is sometimes pretty grab. the only putting that is just to show people you can be free caught up with, don't, i want to inspire younger people who are afraid of community. lots, julietta is mission plan. they to spread love and good cheer novels, training 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 for 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 vehicle i work 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, mellow dish. we meet alaina molnar at our community center in sarajevo. here she offers online counseling sessions for young people who sort of been nicole, the young trans people call me kiera kil, that means mom. so mike, nestle, daniel, pauline and nipple. most young people suffer from not being understood by those around them diving, nice family neighbors, et cetera. oh blushes and they hide their identity and dress bessolo men at 9240, but in the end they haven't achieved anything. they looked in 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.

that also leads really 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, you know, be 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. yep. laneesa love the posted trans, elena molnar got to know. helena vacovich, who gave her a lot of help and encouragement, was, had the law. if i'd known all this before, i'd started transitioning the 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 elaina molnar,

embarked on the most important journey of her life. the bus would take her to the doctor in belgrade i woke up with, but she could not afford the expensive preparatory treatments and long hormone therapy required with diesel to mobile. i couldn't even afford to rent a room, though i slept in ruins, a park, or at the last station. so i could save up money for the forums follows by promotion, foolish blue stone, too bad. it doesn't judge it over the last 2 years. i've been reform closure me so i'm no longer the person i used to. she lived in a cocoon for so long the children now i'm free also. i'm a woman. the juice ah, is

a normal queer life possible in bosnia and herzegovina. amena a mom of it is trying to make that possible at the sarajevo open center. she campaigns for equal rights, such as same sex marriage, fight against discrimination and organizes aid for victims of violence. oh, money keyvonte, who is the cause? there are parents who still send their children to religious conversion. they're legally sampson la fontose, and hardly anyone talk you out of the national russian pro study math. the jani are yogi, where people live. yeah, pretty isolated. lions were barely visible and probably would already think that's why it's important to build up a network and strengthened the career community. nice me give you my mortgage. although some things have improved, i mean a remains careful when she's out in public. for for some rosanna claim, okay, i do look a little queer job as only with short hair and how i dress you and they are we

because every when i encounter a large group of men, i either wait until they're gone or across the street. elissia. eli operating on a little 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 the woman who loves other women, could raise a child with my partner. ah, so i am partner con don. i think that would be impossible. it's me humana, which that's why i would then leave this country was amanda, north and there. 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. i mean, it 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 patty under the sun. because i believe we're still living in a phase of war just without visible weapons. and via but we as a society still find ourselves in a very unsafe supposing automatically and honesty going on mm. 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, are still visible in sarajevo to day. lena telemundo, which is one of the most prominent voices of young lesbian literature in the balkans in asia, fish, hamilton, there's less of a shower of them. i read a lot about what happened after the war in the late 19 alberta. 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 which and thus lack of contact created a great loneliness with salmon was below, was try not easy. bog snag. ashleigh 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 lost its peace. so my family inevitably lost its peace 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, danny, i stayed on the war, the family breaker calling and then the hopeless time after the war or, and feeling different than other people that brought up. not knowing anyone who feels the same way, why and who i could tell who i really was in the last thoughts one another, got some point, all those things caused my break down below that. so swap layla says the war also sparked violence within families. that is 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 of hostile toys about the war

lasted a long time and was very painful. nickina for every single one of us and for our society, holiday lea, a priest for all 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 raged 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 as almost an hour at the reason if it comes here all night after 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 internal now senior little is 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 mean on tools violence and heat are always present when we talk about queer people in our society. it's 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 which supports us when it's necessary, like a down a nas i, stars eyes the bottom in 2019 bronco witnessed 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 when i saw the huge number of people who were there and i was so happy and content doesn't pay for coupled with the previous fear, and suddenly oblong of those feelings completely overwhelmed. me. me think that i would almost be his surveys are being able to go out and put like up and to show that we exist and the problems we have every day and it was more that was a huge success. are generally dot dot the parade was a really, really big step for the school. more all we spent 15 years fighting to make that parade also on the honor drama, which led us advice on dog j. o. donna. this also taking part in his historic parade was singer bushel rachel esther in bosnia herzegovina. he is known and loved beyond the borders of his homeland. but missing that i really believe that today were coming out of the dark mason stepping in to the light. oh,

that's the best description for what's happening here today. oh, it's been a love connect because i don't have a nice night hear a door towards europe is opening outside of you guys. okay, of it all day with boucher fletcher finds his inspiration in the mountains. ah, definitely may have been many that i yes, this is one of my favorite places, almost yonder chip. obviously it's a place of crashed. i sat the 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 again back the mickleson legend of this place, quail hollow into my lyrics because my p santa ah ah, he makes sift of music mixing traditional balkan folk songs sung at weddings and

funerals with muslim and jewish prayers, and fragments of ancient byzantine liturgy, he finds material for his songs 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, toby's anti scope songs which are consciously close to god who between nature and herself, either disarmament, phoebe, i always say not and saved eyes, my kindred spirit of dogs operable more than my marriage, her great thought my marriage with art again 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 become his 2nd home. bobo 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. a credit, whether you're queer or gay, or just trying to live your life, you really need support. wanted to the my to someone who will help you in this battle. who got question on because it's really, really taffy 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 tip, alec was more but i think my musical helps people to accept their differences between us. his chiva, your lord, the but 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. if he did what the point of logo may keep our mouths video mike, a valve cover. china oddler z on i think things will get better big. i believe that's a good me egg it. unfortunately, we're still in constant distract, crazy, lazy. this distress stems from a huge sense of insecurity and fear of living our own lives on a project. like, oh, i saw some 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 costume 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?

what i would like to see, but we're both just more awareness of called queried yes and not them. i hope that the queer community will become strong guys and that more people will come out with their outfit. that people will finally start living without steal, travel across vehicle. if serbia wants to be a chew democracy, it must protect its minority or swaim and una. seneca wasn't fighting for her, which was that were free and equal and accepted the question we did this, you know, because we want to love all we want to know. i really hope that in 10 years young 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. a can you say nic and over 5 yet the less love the winner. ah. yes. mm mm. ah, a motion with magnificent melissa. oh no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no musical messages. mm. grand fundraiser for the term dates foundation. the 10th annual bon opera gala a

has no limit of love is for everybody. love is life. i love matters and that's my new podcast. i'm evelyn shire, mom and i really think we need to talk about all the topics that more divides and unite. and this i have invited many deer and well known guests. and i would like to invite you to an end. they want to know what makes with love via banning thing that's away from them. but i'm not even know how to work. my own car and everyone with later holden, every day getting. are you ready to meet the german then join me, rachel stuart on

d. w. ah ah ah, this is dw news live from berlin. change at the top down under the labor party, wins office in australian elections, incoming prime minister anthony albany, c promises to unite the nation after ousting, longstanding conservative government.