Amnesty Urges Bosnia to Protect Gay Festival
REUTERS: SARAJEVO - Amnesty International on Thursday urged authorities to safeguard Bosnia's first gay festival from possible violence from Muslims who see it as an affront to their religious feelings.

The festival, due to take place in Sarajevo next week during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, has been branded by some Islamic media and officials as a "festival of homosexuality", which is regarded as a sin and disease in Islam.

The human rights watchdog said in a statement some media had mounted a homophobic campaign which had encouraged prejudice and could lead to violence. Amnesty Urges Bosnia to Protect Gay Festival >>> | September 18, 2008

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback – USA)
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Hardcover – USA)

Tensions Mount in Bosnia over Gay Festival
THE MOSCOW NEWS WEEKLY: SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina - Posters condemning homosexuals have appeared in Sarajevo ahead of this month's first-ever gay festival in Bosnia, prompting an international organization to condemn what it called "attempts to incite violence.''

Two Muslim imams have been quoted as criticizing the timing of the five-day festival, which opens Sept. 24 and will occur during the holy month of Ramadan.

Islam prohibits homosexuality, and Sarajevo is at least 85 percent Muslim.

Neither the head of the Islamic Community in Bosnia, Mustafa Ceric, nor his institution has officially reacted to the festival, which will include films and art exhibitions. But two local imams in Bosnia have condemned it.

"We will not grab them by the neck on the street, but we have to say: This is immoral ... a promotion of ideas that are in violation with religion,'' Seid Smajkic, an imam from the southern city of Mostar, was quoted as saying in Friday's Dnevni Avaz, a daily newspaper.

Another local imam, Sulejman Bulgari, said on television Thursday night that the Quran forbids homosexuality and that the holy book is clear about that.

Neither imam was available for an interview on Friday, the Muslim day of worship.

Several posters have appeared in the streets of Sarajevo this week, saying "Death to Gays.'' Police quickly removed them. Tensions Mount in Bosnia over Gay Festival >>> | September 9, 2008

The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Dust Jacket Hardcover, direct from the publishers (US) >>>
The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Paperback, direct from the publishers (US) >>>

Gay Festival During Ramadan Angers Bosnia Muslims
REUTERS: SARAJEVO (Reuters) - Plans to hold Bosnia's first gay festival during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan were denounced by the Muslim community on Thursday as an affront to religious feelings.

As in most of the Balkans, there is little tolerance for homosexuality in Bosnia, where for many it remains a taboo.

"Such an event dangerously threatens our religious feelings. It is not appropriate to hold it during the Ramadan," said Ezher Beganovic, a journalist with the Islamic magazine Saff.

Beganovic has spearheaded a debate about next month's four-day festival. He said in an article this week that the "festival of homosexuality", which is regarded as a sin and disease in Islam, could cloud the holy month of Ramadan and promt angry reactions from believers.

Organisers said the festival was planned a year ago without aiming to provoke.

"This is the festival of arts and culture and there are many believers in our population as well," said Svetlana Djurkovic, who heads the "Q Association" promoting the rights of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transsexual population.

"It coincided with Ramadan unintentionally."

Sarajevo, a symbol of multi-ethnic co-existence and tolerance before the 1992-95 Bosnian war, is now predominantly Muslim. Gay Festival During Ramadan Angers Bosnia Muslims >>> | August 29, 2008

The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Dust Jacket Hardcover, direct from the publishers (UK) >>>
The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Paperback, direct from the publishers (UK) >>>