FELLOW TRAVELERS FROM SERBIA: LGBT-IDENTIFIED PERSONS AND THE CHURCH IN THE PROCESS OF EUROPEANIZATION

Abstract

The paper deals with the question of the dynamics of relations between the political power elite, the LGBT population and the Serbian Orthodox Church in the overall context of the Europeanization of Serbia. An insight is provided into the mechanism(s) through which the political elite in Serbia reproduces its dominant position. Serbian society is depicted as a captured one, and this is illustrated by empirical findings from a survey and in-depth interviews. This is followed by a focus on the political elite’s instrumentalization of the issue of sexual freedom in obtaining international support for maintenance of power through “tactical Europeanization”. After this the position of the Serbian Orthodox Church vis-à-vis the state and its alleged support for LGBT issues is considered. The Church seems to have “realized” that being silent on the LGBT issue is more profitable in a symbolic, as well as, in a material sense.