Indoor Gay Pride tomorrow with Swedish minister

Homosexuals will hold an ''indoor'' Gay Pride event after authorities banned them from parading downtown, citing fear for security and public order. The organizers made the announcement Friday at an international forum on gay and lesbian rights that they also organized, marking the 12th anniversary of the fall of Slobodan Milosevic's regime - a date that in Belgrade indicates a historic turn toward democracy. Sweden's minister of European affairs, Birgitta Ohlson, spoke at the forum, denouncing the authorities' decision to prohibit a Gay Pride parade in Belgrade for the second year in a row. ''It is very sad to see that tomorrow there will not be Gay Pride, because it is a field test for human rights,'' the minister said, adding that she would be present at the indoor Gay Pride event. For the European Union (EU) mission chief in Belgrade, Vincent Degert - who also spoke at the forum - allowing a Gay Pride parade is clearly not a condition for Serbia's entry into the EU, but violence and threats can not be a pretext for its prohibition.