HOMOPHOBIC CAMPAIGN IS HOVERING OVER MACEDONIA

- INTERNATIONAL CALL FOR SUPPORT OF LGBT COMMUNITY AND HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVISTS -

Dear Friends, Colleagues and Human Rights Activists,

In the last month Macedonia is haunted by the so far strongest homophobic campaign initiated by the conservative and non-democratic political and public forces.

On the 12^th of October, in the frames of a public presentation related to the International Day of the Female Child, organized in collaboration with UNICEF, the Minister of labor and social policy Spiro Ristovski stated the following:

“I do not even wish to discuss the issue of allowing homosexual couples to adopt children, because I believe that a child should be brought up correctly, to grow and develop in a marriage with a mother and a father in a true and biological sense of the word.”

Immediately after the statement was published by Media, the Coalition ‘Sexual and Health Rights of Marginalized Communities’ and the Network for Protection from Discrimination issued a public reaction stating the following:

This statement of the Minister Spiro Ristovski is entirely opposite to the real situation of thousands of children, i.e. different types of families which provide care and attention in bringing up children.A number of sociological and anthropological studies by prominent scientists are proof of this.

Specifically, the statement of the Minister is an act of total exclusion, de-legitimization and dehumanization of all types and communities and families, as well as children within those families, which do not correspond to the biologically reproductive and binary family model, i.e. marriage, on which basis the Minister has given his statement.

With this statement, the Minister discriminates all children and forms of families in which children receive necessary care, love and attention, such as children brought up by single mothers, children growing up with relatives, children without parents, adopted children, children taken care of by larger groups of women (frequently during migration), children brought up by same-sex couples and communities, children from different cultures in which the principle of marriage and the biological couple are not crucial to the process of upbringing and caring for children, etc.

What is especially upsetting in this statement of the Minister is that it is reminiscent to advocacy of some of the primitive forms of family, and even more disturbing, to the horrifying model of family and reproduction in the service of a racially clean nation.There are testimonies of this is the dark archives of European civilization.

We publicly address the Commission for protection against discrimination to react to and condemn the statement of the Minister, especially due to the fact that this statement is given by a Minister whose duty is to protect against discrimination and social exclusion.

Based on the competences of the Commission for protection against discrimination, as well as the previous practice when the Commission reacted to discriminatory statements of politicians, we most urgently demand that the Commission publicly states its position and condemn the statement of the Minister Spiro Ristovski, which represents discrimination on the grounds of family and marital standing.”

The Minister, right after our reaction was published, the same day issued a counter-reaction on his facebook fun page, stating:

Where did you notice promotion of a “racially clean nation”?I expressed promotion of a healthy nation, because I, as well as the party I belong to, make efforts for a healthy nation!In fact, statistics show a decrease in the birth rate, and how otherwise shall we increase it, if not by births of healthy children in a healthy natural environment!

Considering that you are trying to coarsely manipulate my statement and blame me for something that I neither think, nor make efforts for, I publicly inform you that you as a Coalition of "Sexual and health rights of the marginalized communities" and "Network for protection against discrimination" shall have to give proof of your accusations of "racial cleaning discrimination" before the relevant institutions!

The same night on the 12^th, in the top news term, the Minister was guest on the national TV station SITEL, well known for its pro-governmental position and explicit homophobic views. His statement was reaffirmed and supported by the journalist who aligned homosexuality with pedophilia, incest, zoophilia etc., while presenting it as a threat to the nation and the civilization, they started the homophobic campaign.

On Sunday, the 14^th, the Coalition, together with the Foundation Opens Society Macedonia, the Macedonian Helsinki Committee, LGBT United Macedonia and HOPS-Healthy Options Project Skopje, held a press conference in front the Ministry. Although a great number of media showed up at the conference, the news on the conference did completely misinterpret and turned upside down the entire reaction. Namely, the civil organizations were presented in almost all Media as demanding same-sex marriages and children adoption, as infatuating heterosexual marriage as primitive form, threatening the family values etc. Statements from the press conference were almost not covered at all, or those that were presented were completely take out of their context. Please find annexed the entire press release of the NGOs for clarifications.

The following days were marked by an increased homophobic campaign comprising:

- Four front pages in four subsequent days on the pro-governmental homophobic newspaper ‘Vecer’. The first published an image from a gay porn movie titled with “There will be No Homosexual Marriages in Macedonia”. The second front page had a picture form a transgender person titled as “Chicks with Condoms”, the third a grandfather with his nephew and caption “We want nephews, not faggotry”, and last one “Researchers prove that children of homosexual couples are victims of pedophilia”, accompanied by an image of a gay male couple with their child.

- The same newspaper in each of this issues published highly imbued articles with homophobic and discriminatory contents inciting hate speech in the commentaries in the internet editions and the internet forums and social networks.

- Other internet media close to the Government publish several homophobic articles, and all of them fabricated the story of the alleged demand of LGBT community and activists of homosexual marriages and adoption.

- The same day when we held the press conference, the 14^th of October, the Association of Social Workers held counter press conference warning the public on the dangerous implications same-sax unions would have for children raised in same-sex environment, while stating that they are explicitly standing against such possibility

- Coordinated homophobic action of suspicious newly formed so called citizens associations, the Syndicate for Education, Science and Sport, Sports Association, religious representatives etc.

- Publicly announced submission of Petition in front of the Commission for Protection from Discrimination against the Coalition and the partnering organizations for alleged discriminatory harassment against heterosexual marriages;

- Protest against LGBT organizations;

- Continuous homophobic Media campaign on daily basis;

- Public threats directed towards human rights activists on social networks and profiles of some of the homophobic pro-governmental journalists and spokesmen. Thus, MilenkoNedelkovski, one of the well proclaimed homophobic journalists supporter of the conservative wrote on his fan page (with more than 4000 fans):

“The faggots had a very active day yesterday!?
Some of them protested, others ‘died’, and others broke up...!!!
LGBT extra active.

But, let a representative of the “primitive form of family” tell you something. Wherever I find you, I will give you a boot and slap in the face. And, also something for the media: Since when 5-6 people gathering in front a door is a news?..Yesterday a living human being jumped from the edge of the universe, but the news for ZarkoTrajanoski holding the faggots flag is more important. SHAME ON YOU…”;

- Horrifying homophobic comments on the e-versions of the newspapers etc.

On, 17.10, Wednesday, the Coalition ‘Sexual and Health Rights of Marginalized Communities’ sent a press release demanding from the Government, the pro-governmental media, and from some citizens associations to immediately stop the discriminatory propagandistic campaign directed against LGBT people that tries to disguise itself as a “debate on homosexual marriages and children adoption”. In the press release, we informed the public that there has not been submitted any Parliamentary initiative for legalization of same-sex marriages and children adoption, but has initiated Proposal Declaration for Condemnation of Hate Speech, with the help of a parliamentarian from the Liberal Party. We further condemned the shameless disinformation published by the daily newspaper ‘Vecer’ and TV Sitel on the alleged statement by the Coalition that “marriage between men and a woman is the most primitive form of family”, while apologizing to the public for any misinterpretation the phrase “primitive forms of family” may have caused, being just a synonym for ‘elementary forms of family’ and said in the context of the minister’s exclusory and discriminatory definition of the family.

We would like to also emphasize that this homophobic stroke is taking place just few months before the start of the local elections and the possible new Parliamentarian elections in Macedonia. As a reminder, we would note that in 2006, when VMRO-DPMNE won the election the campaign against homosexuals was one of their leading points in the election campaign, being a tool mainly for discrediting the opponents from the Social-Democratic Party. Unlike 2006, when the Social-Democrats included registered same-sex partnerships in their election programme, these days they also publicly stated being against gay marriage and adoption of children by homosexual couples.

On the 23^rd, The Prime Minister had official public address on the National Day of the Macedonian Revolutionary Struggle and stated the following:

"Today, when we are in incomparably better condition than 60, 100 or more years ago, we, to tell the truth, and most of European countries, face a crisis of family values, with serious long term and so far unstoppable trend of decline of fertility. We live at a time when it is increasingly rare to have a second child in the families, to speak of third or fourth. Contrary to that we lead debates about skewed values, about single-sex marriages, and even about adopting children in those single-sex marriages, about some kind of rights for women, and of men, about which one of them is more represented in politics or in business, and while we spend ourselves on those topics, as a state we are missing a people,"

On the 23th the Macedonian Helsinki Committee, with the support of the Dutch Embassy, opened an LGBTI Support Centre in Skopje which was announced before this campaign started. The main objective of the Support Centre is advocacy for the LGBTI community, but it is also dedicated to organizing self-support groups, offering help to other formal and informal associations and organizations working in the domain of human rights.

The hate speech campaign was accompanied by another serious and material incident. Namely after the opening of the LGBTI center on the 23th, early in the morning on the 24th , three masked assailants stoned the Centre and broke the glass at the entrance.

The Helsinki Committee has reported the case in the police and it is under investigation.

At this moment the Coalition and the Macedonian Helsinki Committee with the LGBTI center are preparing series of Petitions addressing homophobic and transphobicdiscrimination and hate speech (on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity and marital status) perpetuated by Media and the Minister of Labor and Social Policy to be submitted in front of the relevant bodies for human rights protection in Macedonia.

With this letter, the Coalition ‘Sexual and Health Rights of Marginalized Communities’, the Macedonian Helsinki committeeand the LGBT support center from urge the international community and asks for public reactions that would prevent the further continuation of the discriminatory and homophobic campaign hovering over Macedonia, prevent its further damages and the threatening generation and perpetuation of homophobic and transphobic fear, panics and hate speech.

We would be ineffably grateful if our international friends and democratic and human rights advocates make a public address and reaction demanding from Macedonian media, Government and all civil actors to immediately STOP THE DISCRIMINATORY CAMPAIGN AGAINST LGBT PEOPLE AND HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVISTS.

Skopje, .11.2012

Cordially,

Coalition ‘Sexual and Health Rights of Marginalized Communities’,

The Macedonian Helsinki Committee and the LGBTI support center

ANNEX 1: PRESS RELEASE on press conference held due to the discriminatory and homophobic statements of the minister Spiro Ristovski (14.10.2012)

The mutual strategic determination of the organizations giving their reactions today to the several subsequent disturbing statements of the minister Ristovski, is the effort toward integration of socially marginalized groups.This is the basis of our legitimate interest to oppose the statements given against homosexual persons and couples.

We are sorry to reach the conclusion that in the past several days, the government structures, in order to gain votes among the electorate, continues with the unscrupulous and undemocratic tendency of manipulating populist arguments and mobilization of classic prejudice and fears of the general population.During the 2006 election campaign, when VMRO came to power, the statements given by Antonio Miloshovski, who divided Macedonian society into healthy and sick parts, the healthy part being reserved for the heterosexual, married, reproductive couple, are nowadays continued by the Minister of Labor and Social Policy, Spiro Ristovski.It is very disappointing to see such statements coming from the institution which should stand for protection against discrimination, and even more importantly, for promotion of non-discriminatory principles and values.It is extremely disappointing to see that the government structure, obviously represented by the Minister in his role of representative of all citizens of the RM, continues its sensationalistic and undemocratic monologue on the matter of family, marriage and ultimately, same-sex communities.

With two subsequent statements given on 12.11.2012, the Minister Ristovski, according to our opinion, made a clear distinction between the health standing of heterosexual and homosexual persons, or persons brought up in a heterosexual or homosexual communities.In this context, we once again recognize discriminatory speech, because homosexual persons and communities have clearly been excluded from our government’s idea of a healthy nation.With his latest statements, the Minister Spiro Ristovski, has split the Macedonian society in two parts.The first part is represented, according to the Minister, by healthy married couples which biologically reproduce and give the nation healthy and correctly developed children, while, as it may be logically concluded, the remaining part of society is represented by all those couples which do not fulfill the 'holy mission' of reproduction of the healthy nation, all those parents who bring up their children with all possible love and sources of care, all single mothers, all couples who have adopted, brought up and developed children outside of the “true and biological sense of the word”, all those citizens who have utilized modern technology to create another human life, briefly, all those forms of community who deviate from the normative orthodox model advocated by a Minister of a secular country.

Today, we would like to remind the minister that the Law on prevention and protection against discrimination, proposed by the Ministry which is led by Ristovski, contains a definition (provision) on harassment, as one of the forms of discrimination.This provision stipulates that:Harassment and humiliating treatment is a violation of dignity of a person or a group of persons, on a discriminatory basis, and the purpose or result of which is a violation of dignity of a certain person or creation of a threatening, hostile, humiliating or intimidating environment, approach or practice.

The dignity of an exceptionally marginalized group was violated as a result of the statement given by the minister Ristovski.We shall demand that such a violation on the grounds of sexual orientation is recognized as discriminatory by the Commission for protection against discrimination.

Unfortunately, the Minister’s latest statement and its connotation are proof of the conclusion of the EU Progress Report for the Republic of Macedonia, which explicitly states that in the RM, not only that the Law on protection against discrimination lacks sexual orientation as a ground for discrimination, but also that there is a lack of campaign for raising public awareness on the rights of the LGBT community.The latest events are even stronger indicators that not only is there a lack of will for action in this field, but also that the non-understanding and stigmatization of members of the LGBT community is further enhanced.Furthermore on the notes in the Progress Report for the RM, I must mention that the position of the Commission for protection against discrimination, regarding this case, once again accentuates the question of its independence and non-biased approach, regarding decision-making on acts and actions of the executive government.

ANNEX 2:PUBLIC REACTION to the statement given by the Minister of Labor and Social Policy Spiro Ristovski (12.10.2012)

“The Minister of labor and social policy Spiro Ristovski stated the following:

“I do not even wish to discuss the issue of allowing homosexual couples to adopt children, because I believe that a child should be brought up correctly, to grow and develop in a marriage with a mother and a father in a true and biological sense of the word.”

This statement of the Minister Spiro Ristovski is entirely opposite to the real situation of thousands of children, i.e. different types of families which provide care and attention in bringing up children.A number of sociological and anthropological studies by prominent scientists are proof of this.

Specifically, the statement of the Minister is an act of total exclusion, de-legitimization and dehumanization of all types and communities and families, as well as children within those families, which do not correspond to the biologically reproductive and binary family model, i.e. marriage, on which basis the Minister has given his statement.

With this statement, the Minister discriminates all children and forms of families in which children receive necessary care, love and attention, such as children brought up by single mothers, children growing up with relatives, children without parents, adopted children, children taken care of by larger groups of women (frequently during migration), children brought up by same-sex couples and communities, children from different cultures in which the principle of marriage and the biological couple are not crucial to the process of upbringing and caring for children, etc.

What is especially upsetting in this statement of the Minister is that it is reminiscent to advocacy of some of the primitive forms of family, and even more disturbing, to the horrifying model of family and reproduction in the service of a racially clean nation.There are testimonies of this is the dark archives of European civilization.

We publicly address the Commission for protection against discrimination to react to and condemn the statement of the Minister, especially due to the fact that this statement is given by a Minister whose duty is to protect against discrimination and social exclusion.

Based on the competences of the Commission for protection against discrimination, as well as the previous practice when the Commission reacted to discriminatory statements of politicians, we most urgently demand that the Commission publicly states its position and condemn the statement of the Minister Spiro Ristovski, which represents discrimination on the grounds of family and marital standing.

Skopje, 10.09.12

Coalition "Sexual and health rights of the marginalized communities" and “Network for protection against discrimination”

ANNEX 3:REACTION OF THE MINISTER SPIRO RISTOVSKI (12.10.2012)

http://kurir.mk/makedonija/vesti/87947-Ristovski-Za-ovaa-Vlada-brakot-e-zaednica-megu-maz-i-zena

“Respected citizens,

I am sorry to inform you that a certain group of civil association in the form of a so-called Coalition of “Sexual and health rights of the marginalized communities” and “Network for protection against discrimination” has reacted to my statement that “I do not even wish to discuss the issue of allowing homosexual couples to adopt children, because I believe that a child should be brought up correctly, to grow and develop in a marriage with a mother and a father in a true and biological sense of the word.”That was it!I never, not even for a moment, spoke of the other forms of community in which certain children grow, because they have lost one or both parents, but they are taken care of by their close relatives or the state!Once again, in the first and in the second case, they have a natural form of fostering.

Respected citizens,

Where did you notice promotion of a “racially clean nation”?I expressed promotion of a healthy nation, because I, as well as the party I belong to, make efforts for a healthy nation!In fact, statistics show a decrease in the birth rate, and how otherwise shall we increase it, if not by births of healthy children in a healthy natural environment!

Considering that you are trying to coarsely manipulate my statement and blame me for something that I neither think, nor make efforts for, I publicly inform you that you as a Coalition of "Sexual and health rights of the marginalized communities" and "Network for protection against discrimination" shall have to give proof of your accusations of "racial cleaning discrimination" before the relevant institutions!

Respectfully,

Spiro Ristovski”

ANNEX 4: FRONT PAGES