{"id":11640,"date":"2025-09-12T13:41:15","date_gmt":"2025-09-12T12:41:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/?p=11640"},"modified":"2025-09-23T08:30:53","modified_gmt":"2025-09-23T07:30:53","slug":"labeled-pride-what-pro-government-novosti-informer-and-alo-said-and-didnt-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/2025\/09\/12\/labeled-pride-what-pro-government-novosti-informer-and-alo-said-and-didnt-say\/","title":{"rendered":"Labeled Pride: What Pro-Government Novosti, Informer and Alo Said\u2014And Didn\u2019t Say"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n

Original article<\/em><\/a> (in Serbian) was published on 9\/9\/2025; Author: Milica Ljubi\u010di\u0107<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

During Pride Week in Serbia, as well as in the days leading up to it, we observed various media manipulations concerning the LGBT community. Some of the narratives were new, such as claims that a \u201cblockade-style gay pride\u201d had taken place, while others were familiar, including portrayals of participants as \u201cthe worst satanists.\u201d Ve\u010dernje novosti stood out in this coverage, as it has for many years. The newspaper was particularly critical of banners expressing support for Ukraine, framing them as a \u201cmessage against Russia,\u201d while completely disregarding the fact that in that country the LGBT movement has been declared extremist. In the following text, we present several examples of media manipulation and the dissemination of false claims about members of the LGBT community.<\/em>
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On September 6, as part of Pride Week in Belgrade, a protest march was held under the slogan \u201cFor Family.\u201d The organizers stated<\/a> that Pride \u201cstands in solidarity with students and citizens in the fight for a more equal and better society,\u201d and emphasized that this year\u2019s gathering would be marked by noise instead of music.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The demands<\/a> of Belgrade Pride remain unchanged, as the state has yet to meet them. The first two concern the adoption of the Law on Same-Sex Partnerships and the Law on Gender Identity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Raskrikavanje noted a series of media manipulations related to this topic, including in the most widely read pro-government tabloids.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The portal Novosti, known for its anti-LGBT propaganda, this year labeled<\/a> the protest march as the \u201cfirst blockade-style gay pride.\u201d They claimed this was due to the \u201cgodmother\u201d of Pride, RTS journalist Olivera Kova\u010devi\u0107, as well as political banners and expressions of support for Ukraine. They deliberately used the term \u201cblockade-style\u201d\u2014a pejorative expression borrowed from the SNS vocabulary, which the authorities employ to delegitimize protests that have been ongoing for nearly ten months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the article itself, they wrote<\/a> that the participants \u201cobserved moments of silence like the worst satanists,\u201d and that their reporter recorded \u201cblockade slogans\u201d such as \u201cPump it\u201d and insults aimed at President Aleksandar Vu\u010di\u0107.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What seems to have particularly bothered Novosti were the banners expressing support for Ukraine, which has been at war with Russia for more than three years. Among other things, they published a photo showing a piece of styrofoam in the colors of the Ukrainian flag, describing it as a \u201cmessage against Russia.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Support for Ukraine, however, is not unusual given Putin\u2019s hardline stance toward the LGBT community and the suppression of minority rights in Russia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the end of 2023, the Russian Supreme Court declared<\/a> the LGBT movement \u201cextremist\u201d and banned<\/a> its activities in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A year earlier, the Russian parliament adopted a law expanding the existing ban on promoting so-called \u201cLGBT propaganda\u201d to people of all ages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Radio Free Europe reported<\/a> at the time, under this law \u201cany event or act deemed an attempt to promote homosexuality\u2014including on the internet, in films, books, or advertisements\u2014could be punished with heavy fines.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this context, the Ukrainian flag at Pride was not a message against Russia, but rather against repression and homophobia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

LGBT People in Ukraine \u2018Protected Like Polar Bears\u2019? False<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A claim<\/a> recently appeared on the website of Informer alleging that LGBT people in Ukraine are not subject to mobilization and are \u201cprotected like polar bears.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This claim is based on a statement by a Ukrainian prisoner of war who allegedly told Russia\u2019s RIA Novosti that forced mobilization does not apply to members of the LGBT community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, this claim is false. Article 23 of Ukraine\u2019s mobilization law<\/a>, which lists the categories of people exempt from compulsory military service during mobilization, does not mention sexual orientation as a criterion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Exemptions from mobilization include, for example, persons with disabilities, as well as single women and men who have children under the age of 18. Mobilization also excludes, among others, state officials such as members of parliament, judges, and diplomats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, the media have repeatedly<\/a> reported<\/a> on the position of LGBT people on the battlefield, as well as on unequal treatment in the event of their deaths. Because same-sex marriage is illegal in Ukraine, when these soldiers are killed, their partners have no legal rights to decide what will happen to their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Deutsche Welle<\/a>, citing research by the NGO Pilipenko based on estimates from other countries, the share of LGBT soldiers in the Ukrainian army could range between five and ten percent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Attack on Theologian Panteli\u0107 Over Views on LGBT Believers<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In August, Alo<\/a> and Informer<\/a> attacked theologian Blagoje Panteli\u0107 over his views on members of the LGBT community. They claimed that Panteli\u0107 and the Bishop of D\u00fcsseldorf and Germany, Grigorije, want to turn the Serbian Orthodox Church (SOC) into an \u201cLGBT church.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHis intention (Grigorije\u2019s, author\u2019s note) is to transform the SOC into a church that will submit to LGBT ideology, which many see as an attempt to subordinate the church\u2019s sanctity and traditional values to modern trends that contradict its core principles. For the executor of this so-called \u2018hellish plan,\u2019 as critics call it, Grigorije chose Blagoje Panteli\u0107,\u201d the tabloids reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In reality, they used excerpts from theologian Blagoje Panteli\u0107\u2019s appearance on the show Taboo<\/a> on Insajder TV, where he, among other things, shared his views on Pride, the Church, and tradition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a video<\/a> taken from the social network X and published by the portals Alo and Informer, several of Panteli\u0107\u2019s statements from that appearance were edited together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When host Milan Nikoli\u0107 asked why it is difficult for the Church to accept that many gay people are believers, Panteli\u0107 commented that these individuals are rejected by both communities and that he considers them to be \u201cthe most heavily discriminated group\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When protest marches against EuroPride in 2022 were mentioned, Panteli\u0107 noted that despite the \u201cdays-long protests against EuroPride, it was ultimately held.\u201d This statement of his can also be heard in the excerpt published by Alo and Informer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Church is unable to mobilize more people, unless it serves certain purposes that, for example, benefit the current regime\u2014this one or the previous one. They are given media space, a fuss is made, and still nothing happens\u201d, Panteli\u0107 remarked at the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Panteli\u0107 is otherwise known as a critic of Patriarch Porfirije and the domestic authorities, as well as for his open support of the ongoing protests in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Translated in English using AI tools, then thoughtfully refined by a human editor.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Original article (in Serbian) was published on 9\/9\/2025; Author: Milica Ljubi\u010di\u0107 During Pride Week in Serbia, as well as in the days leading up to it, we observed various media manipulations concerning the LGBT community. Some of the narratives were new, such as claims that a \u201cblockade-style gay pride\u201d had taken place, while others were […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11641,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[316],"tags":[74,28,318],"class_list":["post-11640","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fact-checks","tag-pride","tag-serbia","tag-tabloids"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11640","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11640"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11640\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11643,"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11640\/revisions\/11643"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11641"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11640"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11640"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11640"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}