NASILJE NAD LGBTI DECOM U SRBIJI
VIOLENCE AGAINST LGBTI CHILDREN IN SERBIA

Summary/Abstract: The subject of the paper is violence against children (persons under 18 years of age) belong to the LGBTI category in Serbia. Violence is the most serious challenge they face, but there are also interconnected incidents of discrimination, marginalization and isolation, threats of violence, as well as the acts of violence themselves and the permanent presence of fear of all the mentioned challenges. Acts of committing violence come mainly from two sources, from members of the primary family on the one hand, when the perpetrators of violence are family members, both adults and children. On the other hand, violence comes from members of the peer group, when both the victims and the bullies are children. There is also violence in public space by groups and individuals, adults and youth, motivated by homophobia. The places of events are residential buildings, schools, sports clubs and fields, streets and parks, etc., which indicates that almost the entire spatial/physical environment of the existence of those children is covered. The goal of the paper is to point out the seriousness of the resulting consequences, which are multiple, psychological, physical, etc. The text presents cases of violence against LGBTII children, as well as family experiences of overcoming those challenges. There are presented as well the experiences of some European countries where medical treatments in the form of "dehomosexualization" are legally prohibited and sanctioned as criminal deeds (e.g. France, Germany). The activist term "survivors" is introduced for LGBTI adults who have experienced violence. The conclusion particularly emphasizes the necessity of parental protection and family support as the right environment in which LGBTI children should grow up, and in this connection, support groups for parents as well as public examples/models of parental support. Reducing homophobic hate speech in public discourse can also be identified as a moment of necessary prevention of violence against LGBTI children.

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