Homophobia in Albania

When a new season of the television show Big Brother begins, it dominates conversation throughout Albania like very few other topics can. Unlike the US version, this reality show is broadcast 24/7 on two different channels. The show features contestants who live in a closed-off house for 100 and compete for prize money, and each week a contestant is voted off in a special show on Saturday night. Albanians spend hours a day watching it and even more time talking about it. Also, it’s in the running for one of the dumbest things I’ve ever seen.

Last fall, Prime Minister Berisha passed a law that acknowledged homosexual marriages in a move that most of us consider positioning for EU entrance. We joked that it seemed so odd to think that gay marriage would be fully acknowledged in Albania before it was in the US. But just because a law passes doesn’t mean the public will instantly accept the ideas behind it. Albania remains very conservative socially, considering that it’s not common for guys and girls to even go for coffee together if they aren’t at least engaged.

I think a fellow volunteer said it best: what Albania needs to happen for it to really think about the homophobia issue is a gay participant on Big Brother.

Well, this season saw its first out contestant. Let me preface this by saying that many of the contestants, while they are Albanian, have spent significant time in Italy or other Western countries. Not only does this affect their abilities to speak Albanian, but it also effects their perceptions of issues in that they frequently differ from that of Albanians that remain in Albania.

So what did the public think when Klodian, a 35-year-old from Milan, came out?

Long story short: not well. Protests erupted in Klodian’s hometown of Lezhë. Around 400 people, largely young men, declared ““Lezhë is clean – we have no homosexuals.” There was talk about defending the honor and reputation of the town. In a society based on a cult of masculinity, homosexuality is unforgivable because it’s perceived as feminizing a man. Homosexuality is one of the grand-high “shameful” characteristics in a culture and language that has an entire list of “shameful” things. Homosexuality is shameful but drug and persons trafficking, alcoholism, blatant pollution, corruption and wife-beating, all negative elements of life here, are somehow not considered in the same light. To an outsider, it’s really puzzling.

You see this in every country: young, mostly uneducated and definitely unemployed men with all kinds of frustrations that they take out on others. Why aren’t these young men protesting about their poor educations, about corruption, about unemployment? Surely those factors affect them far more than any gay man on television ever could.
Fatos Lubonja, a long-term political prisoner under the former communist regime, commented that the protests demonstrate “the dismal state of 21st century Albanian society.” The frustration and the anger about other things spill over. Many Albanians deny that any gay people exist here, which always forces me to stifle my laughter at such an impossible thought. There are in fact gay Albanians, but this climate doesn’t leave any room for them to be out. There’s been a lot of commentary within the Albanian media, since Big Brother is the large source of any debate here and it has made people think. But the issue has gone outside of the country.

The European Union weighed in on the events in a country that desires membership:
”The European Union expresses its concern on the recent cases of homophobia and discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation. The events in Lezha and the public debate and criticism over the publication of a series of books intending to introduce gender perspective in the education system by the NGO, Gender Alliance for Development Centre, lead the EU to recall that the EU Treaties prohibit any discrimination based on sexual orientation and that the principle of equal treatment as well as women’s empowerment are fundamental values of the EU. The effective implementation of these values in Albania is essential for the realization of its European perspective, as stated in the EU Commission Progress Report on Albania.”

What is the EU saying? That because the EU respects all people and believes that all people should have equal rights, these kind of violent protests (about a person on television, no less) go against some of the guidelines set by the EU for Albania’s entry. I don’t know to what extent this influences Albania’s candidacy, but it’s definitely a step back from last year’s legislation. Earlier this year, an anti-discrimination law was passed that included sexual orientation and gender identity, but that didn’t stop the mass protests. The persecution that goes on and the risk that people run coming out is astounding. Aside from the familial rejection that gays the world over face, there is a safety element that also affects gay Albanians. Not only that, but rheir very futures can be negatively affected, if not ruined. And so will the future of a country that bars certain citizens from receiving their rights and being protected under law.