“We won’t shut up!” the protesters shouted on Sunday as they made their way through the city center to the Slovak parliament. They carried banners bearing the first names of the murdered victims, Juraj and Matus, and slogans such as ‘The future is anti-fascist’. Also, best friends of the dead spoke to the participants in the rally organized by the queer student association Light.
Wednesday night, a 19-year-old shot and severely injured a woman in front of a bar known as a meeting point for the LGBTQI scene. He then published hate messages and a manifesto of sorts with homophobic, anti-Semitic and right-wing extremist content on digital networks before committing suicide. The English abbreviation LGBTQI stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans people, queer and intersex people.
Since the crime, the media has found mounting evidence that the killer was heavily influenced by Anglophone neo-Nazi forums and admired racist killers.
The organizers of the rally demanded that the Slovak parliament finally adopt European standards for equal rights for non-heterosexual people. The protection of traditional marriages is enshrined in the constitution in Slovakia, which is characterized by a conservative Catholic tradition. There is no legal basis for marriage or any other form of registered partnership for same-sex couples.
(SDA)