Government vows unreserved support to Montenegro’s first-ever gay parade

· Montenegro’s first-ever gay parade called-off, organisers accuse government of lack of support
· Government vows unequivocal support, guarantees safety and calls upon organisers to reconsider their decision


In response to the media reports about the postponement of Montenegro’s first-ever Pride Parade, originally scheduled for 31 May, due to an alleged lack of government support, the Public Relations Bureau underlines that the Montenegrin Government has offered a much greater level of institutional support to the event than any other government in the region.

Namely, the government has voiced unequivocal political support for the event, the police have guaranteed safety to participants and two senior government officials have been appointed as members of the steering committee for the event.

We also emphasise that by supporting the Pride Parade, the Government meets its constitutional commitment to guarantee the exercise of the freedom of speech, including public expression of one’s sexual orientation, as a fundamentals human right.

In that context, considering relevant security assessments and the intensive and comprehensive efforts to ensure safety of the Pride Parade, we are confident that there is absolutely no reason to postpone the event.

We therefore urge the organiser, LGBT Forum Progress, to reconsider their decision to postpone the event, because the Government is determined to provide full institutional support for the event to take place on 31 May, as originally scheduled, in line with support voiced at the meeting between government representatives and LGBT Forum Progress on 31 April 2011.

As for the presence of senior government officials at the Pride Parade, which is also demanded by the organizers, we believe that the unreserved institutional support to the event is of much greater importance than personal presence of any government official.

Our confidence that the safety of Parade participants will not be compromised is also based on the fact that any form of violence against a minority group is clearly against the tradition and the deeply rooted tolerance of the Montenegrin society.