Popular social networking website Facebook.com has removed two Serbian anti-gay groups which made death threats and encouraged members to vandalise property of gay people. One group, called 'Queeria, Pederi Marš iz Srbije' (In English: 'Queeria, queers get out of Serbia') had 406 members, and another, called 'СТОП ПЕДЕРИМА - КВИРИЈИ!' (In English: 'Stop queers – Queeria') had 2,554 members. The Queeria Centre is a Serbian website, whose staff and contributors often faced violent death threats, reports UKGayNews. "Every day threats are being sent to the website's official email address to the effect that the website is going to be hacked, that we are sick people who should be treated, that all of us (LGBT population) should be killed," said Queeria's editor Predrag Azdejković. Two days after UKGayNews brought the groups to the attention of Facebook's moderators, both groups were deleted. "Facebook has looked into these groups and has confirmed that they violate Facebook's Terms of Use. As such, both groups have been removed," the website responded. Gay and lesbian sexuality is considered 'deviant' in Serbia, where LGBT people continue to face widespread discrimination and harassment. There have been many instances of violent gay-bashing, the most extreme during the first Belgrade Gay Pride in 2004.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News Staff
First published: Wednesday, 31st December 2008 - 10:04am