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Masaryk University Faculty of Arts Department of English and American Studies English Language and Literature Juraj Pikuliak A Comparison of Aspects of the LGBT Communities in the UK, the Czech Republic and Slovakia Bachelor's Diploma Thesis Supervisor: Jeffrey Alan Vanderziel, B.A. 2017 / declare that I have worked on this thesis independently, using only the primary and secondary sources listed in the bibliography. Juraj Pikuliak Acknowledgement I would like to thank my supervisor, Jeffrey Alan Vanderziel, B. A. for his patience and advice. Table of Contents 1. Introduction 1 2. Historical Development and Current Situation 4 a) History and Development 4 b) Public Opinion and Acceptance 7 c) The Importance of Media 10 d) Discrimination 12 3. Equal Marriages and Civil Unions 15 4. Gay Pride 19 5. Organisations and Events 23 a) British Organisations 24 b) Stud Brno and Other Czech Communities 25 a) Gay Neighbourhoods 27 6. Conclusion 30 7. Works Cited: 32 8. Resume in English 37 9. Resume in Czech 38 1. Introduction This thesis demonstrates the actual situation of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (hereafter 'LGBT') people and their opportunities in social life, in the terms of a law. The work suggests that the current situation in the Czech Republic and Slovakia has been largely influenced by the foreign development, especially the British one. The English-speaking world is influencing other countries is a variety of spheres, notably the LGBT rights, visibility and acceptance. The thesis deals with the LGBT rights and organisations and its actual situation in the Anglophone world, notably in the Great Britain and it is compared to the Czech and Slovak Republics, with a connection showing the mutual influences among the countries. Majority of the Czech and Slovak LGBT people support was built up thanks to the Western European countries, notably Great Britain, but also the United States. If there were no LGBT movements and supporters on the British Isles, there would be no major improvements in Slovakia nor the Czech Republic today. There is a connection between what has happened in Britain and what is now in Central Europe. The mentioned post-communist countries copy the trends and develop in a way that has been observed in the Anglophone world, especially because of the influence of media. The Czech and Slovak Republics are following the steps of Britain in the way of making the society more open towards homosexuals. This is for various reasons, such as globalisation. Countries are more closer to each other and the laws in Britain inspire the law-makers in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. People are travelling and finding their inspiration abroad. The Czech Republic and Slovakia are finding inspiration in Britain. British trends are inspiring Central Europeans, with the help of globalisation. The Czech Republic is actually going in the steps of Great Britain. 1 The Central European development of the situation animates the British one in the terms of gay rights and the reader this thesis is also portrayed the acceptance of homosexuality in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Great Britain. We are shown the percentage of people who believe homosexuality should be accepted by the majority of the population and contrast/compare it with the past. The general results impose the idea that the situation and development is changing fast and in a positive way. Next follows the information on the equal marriages and civil unions and there is a comparison between the three countries. The major changes in the development of these mentioned actions have been made in recent years and decades and therefore it is important to also mention the previous situation. A part of this work is dedicated to a closer outlook on the gay pride. There still is a significant difference in the prides that take place on the British Isles and the prides in Prague, Bratislava and other major Czech and Slovak cities in the terms of participation on the marches, the views of the majority public and the acceptance of the prides. This is mostly caused by a more conservative post-communist approach of the people in the Czech Republic and Slovakia as well as the prejudices coming from the past. However, the younger generation is more relaxed about about those. There is a chapter dedicated to organisations, events and places for the LGBT people too. A clear similarity between the British and Czech and Slovak institutions prove what has already been mentioned - the countries influence each other. First communities aimed to the integration of LGBT people to the community, to meet with with similarly oriented people and to have activities together. Among a few is the STUD organisation, likewise its projects such as Mezipatra Queer Film Festival dedicated to the films with homosexual tematics, and Queer Ball, presented as a "heterosexual-friendly" ball firstly organised in Brno. 2 The major secondary sources that have been used in this work are as follows: 1. Gay And After by Alan Sinfield, which familiarises the reader with the development of the acceptance of homosexuality in the English-speaking world, as well as the pattern in which community organisations work their way into changes in a country's laws. 2. Analysis of The Situation of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual And Transgender Minority in The Czech Republic written by a group of authors working for the Issues of Sexual Minorities of the Minister for Human Rights and National Minorities. This analysis is a detailed work describing the actual state of the problematics in the Czech Republic, mentioning the major LGBT-related topics such as the community and its relationship with the society and the foreign impact in the country. 3 2. Historical Development and Current Situation a) History and Development Centuries ago, the position of homosexuals was completely different. The first public discussions of queerness appear by the end of the 19th century. However, the period was not in a huge favour for homosexual people, as in the 1930s the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia ment that the people suspected of homosexuality were systematically persecuted and deported (Zurzolo). After that, the Communist regime adopted a new Penal Code in 1948, defining homosexuality as a crime against human dignity, declaring it punishable by up to one year of imprisonment (Zurzolo). Mentioning those regimes and the oppressions connected to them, it seems as the Czechoslovak LGBT community had to undergo a harsh period. The uneasy conditions of the Nazi-controlled Europe could be mentioned by homosexual prisoners having a huge mortality rate, and most of them did not survive the war. Those, who did survive never awaited social rehabilitation or even compensation (Benova et al. 16). As the Destalinization era began in Czechoslovakia, the leaders convened to implement a partial liberalization of the legal system and after lengthy discussions on the issue, the new Penal Code of 1962 unexpectedly approved the decriminalization of homosexuality. Consensual sexual relations between adults of the same sex were no longer a criminal offence but it was still hard to publicly talk or make any reference to homosexuality (Zurzolo). Communist regime brought a lot of police bullying, yet there existed known places, mainly in Prague, where the homosexual minority congregated, but it is only possible to speak of truly free development of the lesbian and gay community after the revolution of 1989 (Benova et al. 16). This changed after 1989, the 4 so called Velvet Revolution, which was one of the biggest turning points in the history and development of the county. The new era and atmosphere were present and the tendency to cooperate with LGBT people too. We could say, that this was a moment, when the Czech Republic started to gain the inspiration in this problematics from abroad, mostly from Western Europe. There were no other countries to be inspired by, as the Eastern Europe generally has even worse positions in terms of LGBT rights. This way, there were no voices coming from the East. There is a fact connected to the acceptance of homosexuality in Czechoslovakia, and it is that the homosexual orientation in the "upper class" was not so dangerous for people as it was for the "lower class", which had to deal with the laws and persecution. Those laws were applying to everyone, yet there were no pogrom because of that (Fanel, 391). After the end of Communism in Czechoslovakia in 1989, the country became more open towards social changes and happened to be more influenced by the Western European neighbours. The trends mentioned here refer to the more positive viewing of LGBT people in the media. Public media have always been a huge influencer throughout the history, influencing the general public not only during the elections, but also during everyday life. Therefore it is imporant that the LGBT people are portrayed in a positive light. There are a few ways of how to achieve a positive outlook, favourable results coming from abroad being one of them. As this brings a constructive soil for future improvements in countries such as Slovakia and the Czech Republic, it is crucial to receive as many supportive ideas as it is possible in order to make a change. In 1991, the so called "pink letters", which were in fact lists of homosexuals registered by the police, were discarded and in 1993, homosexuality was removed from the list of illnesses and any type of treatment or cure for it was forbidden (Fanel, 7). 5 Since the beginning of 1990's, media representation of homosexuals has shifted from images of 'wicked queers' or persons with mental problems toward more positive images, including depictions of LGBT activists lobbying for equal rights.