MEPs by a majority vote on March 11 adopted a declaration declaring the European Union an "LGBTI free zone". The decision was a reaction to the violation of the rights of representatives of sexual minorities in Poland, where in 2019-2020 local authorities declared a number of regions "zones free of LGBTI ideology", but also in other Eastern European countries. Writer and journalist Norbert Mappes-Niediek discusses the causes of homophobia in the region:

"In communist times, homosexuality would have been called a 'relic of capitalism'. After the fall of communist regimes, attitudes toward homosexuals became one of the first fault lines between East and West. From 1989-90 onwards, nationalist politicians in Eastern Europe, who usually contrast the "tolerance" of their inhabitants with the "arrogance" and "missionaryness" of the West, began to inculcate an aggressive intolerance towards lesbians and gays.

Intolerance and homophobia are not an Eastern European feature
"Be intolerant, be normal!" read an inscription on one of the posters of the far-right party in Bulgaria. Not all homophobes would have expressed themselves with such ruthless rigidity. Who wants to be known as intolerant? But the party caught the heart of the problem.

For all that, intolerance – and even more so, homophobia – is by no means an Eastern European feature. On the contrary, in terms of sexual orientation in Eastern Europe, for a long time there was a much greater tolerance than, say, in Germany or the UK.

After all, it was in the Western countries in the bourgeois era that great historical scandals related to "sodomy" broke out. In England, it was a high-profile lawsuit against Oscar Wilde in 1895, and later another against Peter Wildblad in 1954. In Germany, the trial of Prince Fürsten zu Eulenburg in 1906, the scandals surrounding the chief of staff of the NSDAP storm troopers, Ernst Röhm, in 1931-32, and in 1983 the anonymous accusations against Bundeswehr General Günter Kissling, which forced him to resign prematurely.

In the past, the East was more tolerant than the West.

In Eastern Europe, homosexuals were much more tolerated. In Poland, for example, since its independence in 1918, punishment for sexual relations between men has been extremely rare. In the Soviet Union, this question became the dividing line between the Stalinists and the National Bolsheviks on the one hand and the reformers and revolutionaries on the other. In 1922, same-sex relations in the USSR were officially decriminalized, but in the early 1930s under Stalin, criminal liability "for sodomy" was reintroduced.

Czechoslovak communists wanted to decriminalize homosexuality as early as 1950, but were forced to obey a ban from Moscow. In the GDR, as early as 1957, sexual relations between adult men were abolished, in 1961 they were decriminalized in Hungary, and a year later - in Czechoslovakia. In the UK, this happened only in 1967, in the Federal Republic of Germany - in 1969, in Austria - in 1971.

Culture War and Ambivalence
In the early 2000s, the debate about equal rights for gays and lesbians, registered partnerships, and gay marriage turned into an exciting cultural battle between East and West. Paradoxically, it is the political connotations that have made this issue a hot topic. But pop culture, in turn, treated this topic critically or ironically.

In Russia, the female duo "Tatu" played with homoerotic subtexts, in Serbia, singer Maria Šerifović won the Eurovision Song Contest with this theme and became a national icon. A little later, an open lesbian was elected head of the Serbian government. For Serbia, this was an opportunity to show ambivalence: cult lesbians can not hide their sexual orientation and at the same time not irritate the patriarchal right with their cult of strong men.

Is homosexuality a product of importation?
But tensions over the recognition of the rights of sexual minorities in the region still persist. Gay bars are forced to disguise themselves. Gay associations and human rights activists are fighting hard across the Balkan Peninsula to ensure that gay pride parades can be held in as many cities as possible. Every gay pride parade held, despite homophobic attacks, is considered a victory.

Where it is particularly difficult or even dangerous for homosexuals to take to the streets, as in some Balkan countries, Western politicians or diplomats walk in the front row of the procession, thereby unwittingly reinforcing the thesis that homosexuality is a Western product alien to the local population.

Homophobia as a psychological phenomenon
What are the arguments of homophobes? In this case, they are hardly in question. "The threat to the existence of the nation, the demoralization of the army, the threat to marriage - all this has nothing to do with reality," says Martin Dannecker, a scientist from Berlin who studies sexuality. "For example, it has been proven that homosexual unions only strengthen the institution of marriage."

Dannecker defines homophobia, including Eastern European, as a psychological phenomenon. Behind the hostility, he said, lies a deep "doubt about the compatibility of values." In times of uncertainty, only "nature" still provides an unshakable foothold – at least an apparent one. In order to strengthen the credibility of a weak, unstable State, it is necessary to draw a parallel between the State and the family and to speak of them in the same context.

The fragility of the "natural norm"
In fact, the norm referred to as "natural" is seen as something fragile and unstable. This conclusion can be drawn at least from the fact that in order to comply with this norm, you need to "pull yourself together." Gays and other sexual minorities obviously lack the necessary discipline to do so. But why pull yourself together when correct, natural behavior is meant to be taken for granted?

This contradiction cannot be avoided by anyone who advocates traditional gender roles and "unnatural" sexuality. If nature dictates clear rules, as homophobes claim, then gender identity simply cannot be blurred by any life circumstances, some kind of gay parade or "propaganda of homosexuality." So they might not really be worried.

Where does gay hatred come from?
Gay men are hated "for representing passivity," Dannecker says. But it's not just many Eastern Europeans who personally feel doomed to passivity. This depressing fate is shared, rather, by the entire nation with which they relate themselves. It is lectured, infringed upon, made a passive recipient of material goods from the West, which presents itself as a patron. In short, they make a woman out of her.

And "this" gay people allow themselves to do to themselves - this is where the origins of hatred lie. "They betray everyone in their society," Dannecker explains. In addition, the social decline that many people had to endure is perceived as a loss of potency.

Attempt to psychologize homosexuality failed
Dannecker sees the differences between East and West not only in the wave of homophobia that has risen since 2000, but also in the history of the persecution of homosexuals. In the West, in particular, in England and Germany, after a long period of "problematization", a kind of "negative enlightenment" occurred.

Instead of simply condemning homosexuality as a sin, it has long been interpreted as a mental disorder or neurosis. For a time, the West searched for "reasons" why a person becomes homosexual. "But I couldn't find anything," Dannecker says. So all that was left was to take it for granted.

Gays as "heretical icons of the devil"
At the same time, in Eastern Europe, especially in Russia, where, according to the Orthodox tradition, action prevails over "internal motivation", what is important is not what a person feels, but what he does. That is why the broad strata of the population react even more aggressively to the demonstrative, exhibitionist, moralizing element in the LGBTI rights movement.

Even sociologist Igor Kon, a well-known fighter for gay rights in Russia, did not hide his irritation with gay parades: "For some, they resemble student propaganda groups of the Soviet era, which were supposed to teach collective farmers to harvest crops." Tolerance has become a matter of debate, and homosexuals, like participants in Western gay pride parades, have become icons – heretical icons of the devil. And this does not bode well for their recognition in the future."

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