Does Pride Still Matter? Analysing the Domestic Consequences of International Politics that Created the Belgrade ‘Ghost’ Pride

Lesbian, gay, bisexual and Transgender (LGTB) rights, and the practice of pride parades in particular, have are considered to be a litmus test for countries stance on human rights and level of modernisation. The globalisation of LGBT rights as part of ‘standards for civilisation’ has not been without consequences. Indeed, as domestic LGBT politics do not occur in isolation, ignoring the international context can lead to a problematic transfer of strategies, such as pride, that remain domestically irrelevant but rather serve an international agenda. I demonstrate this argument by analysing the Europeanisation of pride, and its unintended consequences, in the context of Serbia’s EU accession process. I do so, by questioning the universal effectiveness of pride, arguing that the international litmus test politics can lead to the domestic depoliticisation of the pride as activist strategy. Analysing the history of the Belgrade pride between 2001 and 2015 through 87 semi-structured interviews, I demonstrate that Belgrade pride has not been able to create visibility of the lived experience of Serbian LGBT people, nor did it manage to engender a political community which would stand up for their rights. The increasing symbolism of pride as a representation of Serbia’s Europeanness and the increasing disconnect between pride and LGBT people, allowed the Serbian state to transform the controversial pride into a political tool of its own. Thus, the Serbian government uses the pride on the international scene to demonstrate Serbia’s commitment to the European integration process by aligning to homonationalist ’standards of civilisation', whilst domestically the militarisation of pride created a ‘Ghost pride,’ i.e. a state tolerated, yet invisible, ritualistic walk through the city, void of domestic LGBT politics.