ZAGREB, 19 July 2022 - The Zagreb Pride NGO has welcomed a trial court ruling that found two members of an amateur singing group from Gudinci, eastern Croatia, guilty of discrimination because they expelled two other members from the group just because they were gay.

The court fully upheld the complaint by the two gay men and fined the two homophobic members of the group HRK 15,000 (€2,000) each, the NGO said on Tuesday.

This fair outcome was possible thanks to the determination and persistence of the two gay men who would not allow being humiliated, insulted, and discriminated against and reported the case to the police, Zagreb Pride said, adding that it had provided all the necessary legal support.

The NGO called on all LGBTIQ persons who have experienced humiliation, harassment, threats, discrimination, or physical violence to contact them for any legal aid or counseling they may need.

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ZAGREB, 4 June 2022 - Zagreb Mayor Tomislav Tomašević said on Saturday he would talk with LGBT associations about their demands for getting their own center, stated at today's 21st Pride parade.

"There are various models to realize that. We'll see the details, what they are proposing," he said while taking part in the march.

Tomašević said the 21st Pride was a parade for the 21st century Zagreb, a city "which is open to every diversity, tolerant of all differences and open to all."

He also commented on a lawsuit filed against him by the organizers of the Walk for Life march because the city refused to hoist their flags on its masts. "I'm not afraid of that. It is in the mayor's remit to decide on putting flags on city masts."

He said that although Walk for Life organizers had not been allowed to hoist their flags, freedom of speech and assembly had been not jeopardized and they had stood in public spaces.

"However, hoisting flags on city masts means the city administration's support. Walk for Life's goals are completely opposite to our program, in which we promised to ensure the availability of abortion, which is legally allowed, and allowing that would have been hypocritical," the mayor said.

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ZAGREB, 4 June 2022 - The 21st Zagreb Pride parade of LGBTIQ+ persons and families started from a full Roosevelt Square around 3.30 pm on Saturday under the ironic motto "Give us our four walls!"

Organizers said the motto was ironic because, having come out of their four walls in the first Zagreb Pride march 20 years ago, now they were asking the city authorities for space for their activity.

"We demand that the city recognizes the LGBTIQ+ community as an inseparable part of Zagreb's social and cultural life and that it ensures the conditions for the establishment and construction of an LGBTIQ+ center," organizers said in a statement.

Now is the time to build a center in which they will feel safe, free, creative, and gay every day of the year, they said. "And those are the only four walls we accept."

After gathering at Roosevelt Square, participants began marching towards Ribnjak Park, where a protest will be held, followed by a show program.

Among them are Mayor Tomislav Tomašević and his deputies Danijela Dolenec and Luka Korlaet, Deputy Prime Minister Anja Šimpraga, Social Democratic Party president Peđa Grbin, and MP Siniša Hajdaš Dončić, Workers Front MP Katarina Peović, human rights ombudsman Tena Šimonivić Einwalter, and Pussy Riot activist Aysoltan Niyazova.

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