National Park Service calls for study to landmark LGBT historical sites. Truck stop tea rooms, anyone ?

PUBLISHED : FRI, 06 JUN 2014, 07:28 PM
UPDATED : SAT, 07 JUN 2014, 10:20 AM

LGBT civil rights activists keep demanding full federal equality of the Obama administration, and all Obama can do is to keep blowing a lot of hot air.

RELATED Pelosi Photo-op at Interior Department's Gay Panel ; Historians Named (The Petrelis Files) No Drag Queens, People of Color, Stonewall Riot Vets at Federal Photo-op (The Petrelis Files)

ON TUESDAY, JUNE 10, 2014, Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell and National Park Service Director Jonathan Jarvis will host a panel discussion including leading historians and scholars to discuss ways to sweep President Barack Obama's failed LGBT agenda under the rug. Before lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender historians and academics interpret and denounce the president's many broken campaign promises to the LGBT community in the context of the broader Obama administration's failures, U.S. House of Representatives Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi and U.S. Ambassador to Australia John Berry will deliver kick-off remarks at the Interior Department's panel discussion to give the administration's limp efforts some shallow liberal optics. This panel discussion is the first step in the LGBT Heritage Theme Study that Secretary Jewell announced on May 30th at the Stonewall Inn in New York City to identify places and events associated with the story of LGBT Americans for inclusion in the parks and programs of the National Park Service. While landmarking places of historical LGBT significance is noble, the real reason behind this latest initiative is to ensure that historians and academics desperate to appear on official Obama administration press releases are seduced into writing some empty and meaningless "inspirational" Obama administration talking points. The LGBT Heritage Theme Study is timed to drag on through the 2016 election cycle, so that LGBT historians and academics can placate more militant LGBT activists to prevent any dust up as Hillary Clinton contemplates another run for the White House. During her term as the Secretary of State, she basically allowed fundamental radical American evangelists and their political enablers to spread a private foreign policy of hate and discrimination around the globe, with many nations introducing, debating, and enacting laws that persecute and even execute people for being LGBT. As President Obama completes his transition from the hope and change president to a massive disappointment to a lame duck to history, his administration officials are desperately trying to fluff their credentials with the LGBT community after so many years of impotence. At a time when LGBT activists are taking a harsher look at the failed Obama's record, including Obama's tortured support for the Employment Non-Discriminatin Act (ENDA), in spite of its unacceptable religious exemption loopholes, all the Obama administration can muster in response is an offer to not only blow some more hot air about his LGBT dedication, but to gather some more people to join him in blowing even more hot air. With all this blowing, let's hope the Interior Department landmarks a few token truck stop tea rooms. Indeed, according to the Department of Interior's official media advisory, "The goals of the heritage initiative include : engaging scholars, preservationists and community members to identify, research, and tell the stories of LGBT associated properties ; encouraging national parks, national heritage areas, and other affiliated areas to interpret LGBT stories associated with them ; identifying, documenting, and nominating LGBT-associated sites as national historic landmarks ; and increasing the number of listings of LGBT-associated properties in the National Register of Historic Places." The deep-seated resentment by LGBT activists of the Obama administration's empty-suit machinations has been building up for many years. After promising to repeal the military's former discriminatory policy known as "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" during the 2008 presidential campaign, President Obama dragged his feet. Not until Lt. Daniel Choi, Capt. James Pietrangelo, other service members, and other activists, including members of the direct action group, GetEQUAL, mounted a direct action campaign targeting members of Congress and the White House itself did the Obama administration finally sign into law a repeat of DADT in 2010. Similarly, activists from GetEQUAL have routinely pressed the Obama administration to enact federal laws to end legally-sanctioned discrimination against the LGBT community. In 2011, members of the LGBT activist groups GetEQUAL, Queer Rising, Join The Impact, and others protested outside an Obama administration fundraiser at Sheraton Midtown in Manhattan. The activists were demanding full federal LGBT equality. Members of GetEQUAL and Code Pink have subsequently continued to birddog the president to deliver on the community's demands for full federal LGBT equality. LGBT activists have for years communicated to the White House that the LGBT community demands full federal LGBT equality, but the Obama administration only throws the crumbs of incrementalism, or worse, more hot air in our direction. Speaking of truck stop tea rooms, I would love to see the LGBT community call out the Obama administration's LGBT Heritage Theme Study for what it is : a sham. Instead of validating the landmarking process, I wish LGBT activists would flood the White House with nominations of their favorite adult bookstores, porn theatres, and gay bathhouses. Since many of these places may have been run out of business by free Interent porn, their dwindling numbers may make them "historically" significant. Besides, places where the LGBT community used to cruise each other or meet up for sex actually do have significance in our history. Besides the larger march for equal civil rights, our history includes the long struggle for cultural and social changes that have to do with our sexual liberation -- our freedom from oppression. If you would like to nominate your favorite glory hole, please send an e-mail to Gautam Raghavan, the White House's LGBT liaison, at : LGBT@who.eop.gov -- making sure you use the subject, "LGBT Heritage Theme Study." The LGBT Heritage Theme Study was kicked-off with a press event last week outside New York's landmark Stonewall Inn, the site for the 1969 riots that marked the beginning of the modern LGBT civil rights movement. At that kick-off media event, protesters once again demanded that the Obama administration do more than just talk -- "to create a roadmap to end what they call legal discrimination against the LGBT community," according to NY1. Activists from GetEQUAL and Queer Nation NY were among a number of protesters demanding "full federal equality." Many LGBT civil rights activists were surprised by these sudden machinations of the Obama administration. New York is home to many radical LGBT activists, and none were invited to take part in the media event at the Stonewall Inn. Some national LGBT civil rights activists, such as Michael Petrelis from San Francisco, criticized the media event for its lack of inclusion. No person of color, drag queen, or veteran of the Stonewall riots were invited to speak on behalf of the broader and diverse LGBT community. The Interior Department's study, hastily timed to coincide with LGBT Pride Month, is being funded with the help of Tim Gill from the Gill Foundation. Mr. Gill contributed $250,000 to help fund this study. Mr. Petrelis, the blogger and activist, has listed the names on his blog of the historians and academics taking part in the study.

Michael Petrelis Exposes Misuse Of San Francisco Taxpayer Money In Promotion of Inaccurate Marriage Equality Book

Revisionist book by The New York Times reporter Jo Becker raises questions about possible ethics violations in San Francisco City Attorney's Office

Activist and muckraking blogger Michael Petrelis has obtained public records from San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera's office, showing how San Francisco city employees on the City "clock" were coordinating with The New York Times reporter Jo Becker and her various publicists to promote her controversial new book about the marriage equality movement, "Forcing the Spring." The 110-pages of public records is available on Google Drive.

• RELATED : Becker Had SF City Attorney Ask Judge Walker to be at Photo Op (The Petrelis Files)

In an e-mail Mr. Petrelis sent to Ms. Becker, to top editors of The New York Times, and to Mr. Herrera, Mr. Petrelis forwarded a link to his latest blog post and asked, "Will the San Francisco media continue to ignore these serious ethical lapses at the City Attorney's office ?"

Mr. Petrelis, like many LGBT activists, bloggers, and leaders, have been outraged by the inaccuracies of the modern social movement for marriage equality in the United States, as presented in Ms. Becker's book. Many reviewers of Ms. Becker's book believe that she gives too much credit to the recent progress of marriage equality across the United States to, amongst others, Chad Griffin, who was one of many individuals involved in the litigation to overturn California's controversial Proposition 8, which banned same-sex marriages when the ballot initiative was passed in 2008. Incredulous as it may seem, Ms. Becker called Mr. Griffin the gay "Rosa Parks."

• RELATED : Jo Becker’s revisionist history on marriage (The Washington Blade)

For his part, Mr. Petrelis has been blogging about Ms. Becker's scandalous book, reporting about how the San Francisco City Attorney's office has been using city infrastructure, city employees' time, and other city resources to promote Ms. Becker's inaccurate book.

• RELATED : KQED Gay Reporter Rims Jo Becker, SF City Atty Herrera's Butts (The Petrelis Files)
• RELATED : How NYT's Jo Becker Made SF City Attorney's Office Her PR Firm (The Petrelis Files)
• RELATED : SF City Attorney Paid Griffin How Much as His Prop 8 Adviser ? (The Petrelis Files)

One wonders whether city investigators in San Francisco will question the use of taxpayer resources for Ms. Becker's private profit.

In the aftermath of the Stonewall riots of 1969, political activism by gays, lesbians, and trans* New Yorkers took off. In 1971, members of the Gay Activist Alliance in New York City "zapped" the city's marriage office, occupying it with the radical demand gays and lesbians be allowed to get married. The activists threw an "engagement party for two male couples," complete with "wedding cake decorated with two grooms and two brides," according to a YouTube video of the protest. In this emboldened new era, demands to end marriage discrimination crossed over into the mainstream. According to Mr. Petrelis' blog :

… On May 2, 1974, a one-hour debate organized as a mock trial and aired on a show called "The Advocates, The PBS Debate of the Week", and the subject was "Should Marriage Between Homosexuals Be Permitted ?" and the event was held on the University of California at Irvine campus. Leading the charge for the gays was longtime gay pioneer Frank Kameny who was masterful in his presentation and how he framed his arguments. …

Joining Kameny were out lesbian Elaine Noble who was a professor at Emerson College at the time, a year before she was elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives and Dr. Richard Green, a psychiatrist from UCLA, and quite the bear but I don't what his sexual orientation is.

The opposing side was led by Florida civil rights attorney Tobias Simon, who was joined by Robin Smith at Occidental College, and Dr. Charles Socarides, listed as an Associate Clinical Professor at Albert Einstein Medical School.

Socarides was the father two blights upon the LGBT community, the first being the now-discredited bogus "conversion therapy" that held a person with same-sex attractions could be changed to desire the opposite sex, and the second was his son Richard Socarides, a Democratic political strategist who holds the dubious distinction of having written talking points for President Bill Clinton deflecting LGBT advocates' anger over the signing of the Defense of Marriage Act when he was the White House gay liaison. … (Frank Kameny v. Charles Socarides: 1974 PBS Gay Marriage Debate * The Petrelis Files)

In the intervening years, as the cumulative effect of LGBT political organizing grew grew, the arc of legal treatment towards the community grew from one viewing us based on our "sexual preferences" to one being based on "sexual orientation" and "gender identity," the difference being that we were stopped seeing as making a choice about our sexuality and instead being born this way, an easier argument to make for being born with natural rights and liberties, making the community's demands for equality easier to make. (The way that our community identified itself also change, from being termed "homosexuals" to "gays" to "gays and lesbians" to GLBT to LGBT, etc.) However, the inevitable backlash against LGBT organizing against discrimination, including against the state-sanctioned discrimination that denied LGBT couples the right to get married, was codified on the federal level by none other than President Bill Clinton, when he signed into law the Defense of Marriage Act, or DOMA, in 1996. As alluded to by Mr. Petrelis, President Clinton's treacherous enactment of the law was made possible by the shady help of Richard Socarides, a gay political operative, who many New York City activists view with disdain for having enabled President Clinton to codify federal discrimination against civil marriage rights for LGBT couples. President Clinton later changed his mind about DOMA, but only after it became politically advantageous for him and for his wife, Mrs. Clinton.

Then, in 1999, the Supreme Court of Hawaii ruling in Baehr v. Lewin helped to spark the modern marriage equality movement. Activists were further emboldened by the landmark 2003 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Lawrence v. Texas, which finally invalidated all state laws against sodomy, a backhanded way that governments had traditionally used to oppressed the civil rights of lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, and trans* Americans. A year later, in a nod to how progressive social movements have historically been shown to grow in the United States, Gavin Newsom, the mayor of San Francisco, added fuel to the fire in the drive for marriage equality by authorizing the city to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. His sole act helped to give hope to a broad spectrum of LGBT activists and allies by showing that a progressive reform made in one municipality could be replicated in other municipalities. The mayor of New Paltz, New York, copied Mayor Newsom's move, but the New Paltz effort was stopped by legal action. Legal action also put a stop to the San Francisco effort, triggering legal action, the whole Prop 8 ballot initiative, and subsequent litigation over Prop 8. When the traditionally conservative state of Iowa instituted same sex marriage rights in 2009 following its own Supreme Court ruling, LGBT activists in New York state where shamed about their inability to make progress on marriage equality in the shadow of leadership in other states, despite New York's reputation for being the nation's undisputed liberal and progressive leader. Marriage equality advocates had always been pressing their cause in New York state, but local politicians, such as former New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn never wanted to gamble any of her political capital on risky new government policy proposals, especially after she had spent years distancing herself from the radical activism that runs the liberal and progressive politics of New York City. Indeed, as the most visible LGBT official in New York City at the time, Ms. Quinn failed to organize the LGBT community in New York to block former Mayor Michael Bloomberg's successful effort to quash marriage equality in New York when he appealed, in 2005, a favourable court ruling supporting equal civil marriage rights. After the unrelenting direct action campaign, begun in 2010, by one group, Queer Rising, put marriage equality back on the social agenda, the big money LGBT groups felt more comfortable in deploying resources to support a renewed push for marriage equality in New York state. After marriage equality became law in New York state, activists across the world were inspired by the ability to pass legislation to extend civil marriage rights to LGBT New Yorkers. In the wake of success in New York, marriage equality activists were emboldened to organize and change the laws in such far away nations as France.

LGBT is the most common acronym to describe the minority community oppressed by state-sponsored laws that discriminate based on sexual orientation and gender identity, but a more inclusive term is QUILTBAG, which stands for Queer/Questioning, Undecided, Intersex, Lesbian, Transgender/Transsexual, Bisexual, Allied/Asexual, Gay/Genderqueer. Although more memorable, QUILTBAG has not gained wider use.

Questions about Full-Page NYTimes Open Letter to Pope About Homeless QUILTBAG Youth Services

Was the Controversial Full-Page New York Times Ad Shaming Catholic Pope Francis A Complete Waste of Money ?

The cost of an open "plea to Pope Francis on behalf of troubled gay youths needing housing, healthcare and other basic necessities" printed as a full-page advertisement in last Sunday's edition of The New York Times may have been an expensive waste of money, according to a post published yesterday on the blog of San Francisco activist Michael Petrelis.

• RELATED : Gay Homeless Org Wasted $150,000 on NYT Pope Francis Ad (The Petrelis Files)

The open letter, penned by Carl Siciliano, pictured above, the executive director of a Manhattan shelter for homeless QUILTBAG youth, the Ali Forney Center, was estimated to cost approximately $150,000 to be printed by The New York Times, and the cost was paid for by chichi furniture makers Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams, the blogger Mr. Petrelis wrote.

Once a highly visible activist when he lived in New York, Mr. Petrelis periodically follows New York politics and activism, blogging from San Francisco about these issues on the World Wide Web. When Mr. Petrelis first approached Mr. Siciliano about the cost of the advertisement, Mr. Siciliano was evasive, directing Mr. Petrelis to the furniture makers, who paid for the advertisement.

2014 04 13 Ali Forney Center - Open Letter to the Pope (Pope Francis) - Full Page Advertisement in The New...

Mr. Petrelis sought to open up a dialogue with Mr. Siciliano over the possible misuse of $150,000 in donor money to pay for a one-time, full-page advertisement, but Mr. Siciliano ended communication with Mr. Petrelis after issuing a denial, forcing Mr. Petrelis to blog about the issue and, later, circulating a link to his blog post to several New York City activists, including some journalists. Mr. Petrelis's e-mail was subsequently forwarded amongst New York activists. "In my view, the funds were wasted on a PR stunt that did nothing of direct benefit to Ali Forney Center clients, but sure bought a lot of gushing media and blogger coverage," Mr. Petrelis wrote on his blog, adding, "I say that money could have been put to much better use paying for motel vouchers or subsidizing apartments for homeless New York City gay youths."

In trying to hold Mr. Siciliano accountable for the possible misuse of $150,000 in donor funds for a one-time public relations "stunt," Mr. Petrelis and other activists noted that Mr. Siciliano and his donors have arguably wasted a large sum of money hoisting shame or blame onto the Catholic pope in Rome for conditions in New York City over which the pope has no real responsibility.

• RELATED : Homeless Youths File Federal Lawsuit Against New York City (NYC : News & Analysis)

Over three months ago, a class action of homeless New York City youths filed a lawsuit in Brooklyn federal court. The Legal Aid Society, acting as counsel to the plaintiffs, sued New York City, demanding the full resources to finally and fully provide shelter to all homeless youths in New York City, as required by law. When New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced his first preliminary budget, his administration promised to "eventually spend $12 million a year to fund programs for homeless youth, including queer youth," Gay City News reported. But the $12 million isn't enough to full fund the provision of shelter to the estimated 3,800 homeless youths in New York City. At $12 million, the spending comes out to less than $3,160 per year per homeless youth -- which comes out to about the cost of one month's rent for the average New York apartment. At that funding, the promised budget allocation isn't enough for rent, much less sufficient for healthcare and other basic services, which Mr. Siciliano was trying to shame the Catholic Church into providing.

Mayor de Blasio's proposed $12 million budget allocation is woefully insufficient to fully provide shelter for homeless youths, even though the federal and state laws require the city to make this provision to any homeless youths ages 16 to 20, who request shelter, according to the Legal Aid Society's class action lawsuit. Even though the population of homeless youths are estimated to number about 3,800, the New York City budget only makes 253 shelter beds available for homeless youths.

In the wake of the de Blasio administration's failed homeless youth policy comes the Ali Forney Center donors funding what was basically an attack ad against Pope Francis, even though it's the city's legal responsibility to fully provide shelter to all homeless youths. It's not known why Mr. Siciliano, the Ali Forney Center, and their donors would try to muddy responsibility from rolling up to the mayor, unless Mr. Siciliano was trying to score political points by providing political cover to the mayor's failed policy in exchange for a greater allocation of the mayor's nominal expansion of homeless youth funding, a predicament predicted under a de Blasio city budget that is being squeezed by high expectations after nearly a decade of unmet economic needs under the former Bloomberg-Quinn administration. Rather than admit the reality of the economic pressures on the New York City budget, the mayor spun an token, yet wholly insufficient, increase in homeless youth funding as a "win" -- even though it doesn't fully address the issue, as required by law.

Let's hope that Mr. Petrelis's blog posting, and the circulation of his e-mail among New York activists and journalists, will help restore the focus of homeless youth responsibility back on City Hall -- and not on Vatican City.

San Francisco Bradley Manning Pride Board Meeting Mess

Includes the only photos from inside the meeting! "They say court martial! We say grand marshal!" Why did Pride cancel making Bradley Manning Grand Marshal of Pride 2013 ? Why did they ban the press from their meeting ? Sure looks like the corporate sponsors want a nice, squeaky clean party with no reminders that Pride is about fighting for human rights and that the celebration honors a RIOT. Forget the Pride committee. The community has spoken: Bradley Manning IS Grand Marshal.

Related : SF Pride Chief Operating Officer Resorts to Lies as Scandal Around Honoring Bradley Manning Continues

NYT's Free Pass to Richard Socarides on DOMA and DADT

From Michael Petrelis :

''What we're never going to see from the Times is an in-depth examination of the public and private records of exactly what Richard Socarides did in his duties to Clinton when DOMA, HIV travel and immigration bans, and DADT were enacted and codified into federal law harming thousands of LGBT persons and people with AIDS.''

Read More : http://mpetrelis.blogspot.com/2013/01/nyts-free-pass-to-socarides-on-doma.html

Activist And Blogger Arrested For Photographing Wiener in Men's Room

Activist Michael Petrelis Arrested Over Privacy Violation Involving San Francisco Supervisor Scott Wiener

From The New Civil Rights Movement :

In what appears to be an act of heavy-handed political retribution, longtime activist, muckraker and citizen journalist Michael Petrelis yesterday surrendered to the San Francisco Sheriff’s Department in response to the District Attorney issuing a warrant for his arrest, after being charged with allegedly violating the privacy of Supervisor Scott Wiener.

The DA alleged Petrelis broke Section 647(j) sub-section (1) of the penal code.

A simmering feud between the Supervisor and Petrelis over a range of issues from a public nudity bill to control over the rainbow flag in Harvey Milk Plaza has raged for over two years. The charge stems from a photograph Petrelis snapped, and subsequently published on his blog, of the supervisor at a wash basin in a public restroom at City Hall on Friday, October 26.

Petrelis voluntarily turned himself in for booking on Thursday afternoon after posting bond, was cited and released.

“I am dealing with this legal matter head on,” said Petrelis following his ordeal. “I voluntarily surrendered to the San Francisco sheriff. I have a court date set for December 5th at 9 am, and I look forward to it.”

The incident occurred at City Hall, where Petrelis was staging a photo-op for visiting gay Honduran dignitary Erick Martinez, an activist whose life has been threatened by the rightwing junta ruling his country. Through Petrelis’ political organizing, Martinez was introduced to gay Supervisor David Campos and bisexual Supervisor Christina Olague, in front of the Harvey Milk Bust in the Grand Rotunda on the second floor.

Petrelis had been taking photographs of the activities in the Grand Rotunda before he walked into the public men’s room noticed Wiener and proceeded to photograph him. An image of Wiener standing in front of the sink, holding a toothbrush later appeared on Petrelis’ blog.

Two weeks after the photo appeared on his blog, in what looks like an act of political retribution, Wiener appears to have abused his power as a San Francisco Supervisor by involving the sheriff’s department, who in turn assigned two senior detectives to investigate the Petrelis.

“I am surprised the DA charged this case,” said Petrelis’ attorney, Derek St. Pierre.

A local fight over control of the giant rainbow flag that flies over the Castro, located in Harvey Milk Plaza, has been simmering for over two years between activists and the politically powerful Merchants of Upper Market and Castro (MUMC), over an alleged “agreement” with the city’s Department of Public Works (DPW). Wiener failed to mediate the dispute in his district, instead siding with MUMC.

At a September 11th commemoration in honor of Mark Bingham, a microphone was intercepted by Petrelis, an organizer of the event, before Wiener reached it. Excoriating him for his hypocrisy and lack of leadership, in front of media hordes, San Francisco mayor, Ed Lee, and other San Francisco power brokers, Wiener’s subsequent speech was an excruciating, cringe-inducing embarrassment, and one Wiener was not likely to forget any time soon. A meeting between activists and DPW scheduled for October 26, 2011 at City Hall was abruptly canceled at Wiener’s behest.

More recently, Wiener has been under considerable fire for the anti-nudity legislation he authored; an aggressive attempt to impose curfews on public plazas in the Castro that critics decry as openly hostile to the district’s homeless population; the erosion of San Francisco’s once-powerful Sunshine laws; and his strenuous opposition to free Muni rides for minors. A growing chorus of irate constituents has begun protesting the Supervisor’s activities and speaking engagements. ...

California Penal Code Section 647
(j) (1) Any person who looks through a hole or opening, into, or otherwise views, by means of any instrumentality, including, but not limited to, a periscope, telescope, binoculars, camera, motion picture camera, camcorder, or mobile phone, the interior of a bedroom, bathroom, changing room, fitting room, dressing room, or tanning booth, or the interior of any other area in which the occupant has a reasonable expectation of privacy, with the intent to invade the privacy of a person or persons inside. This subdivision shall not apply to those areas of a private business used to count currency or other negotiable instruments.

Click here and here for background on this matter.

Gays Without Borders rally at Serbian Mission

American LGBT Activists Rally In NYC; Express Solidarity With Serbian LGBT Community In Advance of 2010 Pride Parade In Belgrade.

October 8 (New York, NY) -- American gay activists rallied in New York City to support LGBT Serbians on the same day that the Serbian Orthodox Church denounced Sunday's gay pride parade in Belgrade, Serbia. A photograph of the activists Michael Petrelis and Andy Humm can be found on the NY Mobile News blog.

Gay Serbian organisations are set to mount their first LGBT Pride March in Belgrade on Sunday, October 10, amidst threats from right-wing anti-gay groups, which have prevented the Serbian LGBT community and allies from marching in past years. The purpose of today's demonstration outside the Serbian Mission was to raise international awareness of the threats of violence and intolerance being expressed in the days leading up to Sunday's gay pride parade.

Over a dozen activists turned out for the New York demonstration, which was sponsored by Gays Without Borders, among other groups. Mr. Petrelis was joined by Brendan Fay and another activist in New York ; together, the three activists were escorted inside the Serbian Mission, and the three activists delivered written communications to consular officials of the Serbian Mission. The remaining activists, meanwhile, were not allowed to enter the Serbian Mission, and no cameras were allowed to be carried inside. One of the letters delivered to consular officials expressed the activists' support of the gay Serbian parade participants, and that letter was signed by LGBT leaders from 23 countries around the world, according to Mr. Petrelis.

Now that it has applied to join the European Union, the government of Serbia must justify its qualifications and, among other things, account for its human rights record.

In 2009, the gay pride parade in Belgrade had to be called off after extremist groups threatened violence ; in response to the threats, the Serbian government could not guarantee the safety and security of parade participants.

The gay pride parade to be held on Sunday will only be the second time that such a parade takes place in Belgrade. In 2001, the first gay pride parade ended with a violent outbreak between police and parade participants.