LBGTI advocates in Serbia have welcomed Ana Brnabic’s baby – while cautioning that her privileged political position has shielded her from the routine harassment and violence that the community faces in the country.
Serbia’s Prime Minister, Ana Brnabic, has become a parent after her same sex partner, Milica Djurdjic gave birth. But LGBTI rights activists in the country were quick to note that same sex couples still cannot legally marry in Serbia and attacks on LGBTI people remain worryingly common.
“News that Brnabic became a parent is good in general but it also just shows how much privileged she is,” Aleksandar Savic, from the Belgrade Pride Info Center, told BIRN.
He said the Prime Minister could easily afford to become a parent because she is in power and protected from the kinds of problems the community faces. “Homophobia in Serbia is something that doesn’t tackle her,” Savic noted.
News of her parenthood broke on Wednesday afternoon, prompting world media to describe her as the first world leader to have a child with a gay partner.
Serbian media reported that Brnabic’s partner and baby, named Igor, were “doing fine”. The BBC reportedthat Djurdjic had become pregnant through artificial insemination.
But Savic said other same sex couples in Serbia do not have same rights. “The law is a problem to all who are not in power,” he underlined.
Serbian family law defines marriage in purely heterosexual terms as a “community of life between a woman and a man”. It does not recognize unions of same sex couples.
Such couples in Serbia may not adopt children, and the state doesn’t recognize them as parents if they have a child. Only the biological mother has legal rights in this case.
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