Results of the 2014 online survey on the Pride Parade show pronounced divisions: most respondents do not support holding the Parade in Belgrade, yet in personal relationships the dominant attitude is “it’s a private matter.”
On the question about the Parade, 60.11% of participants say they do not support it, while 18.06% support it. The remaining 21.83% have no opinion. However, when the issue is shifted to the closest circle—“what if your best friend is homosexual”—as many as 74.12% say they would do nothing and that what matters is what kind of person they are. A smaller share would advise them to see a doctor (11.05%), and 8.09% would reduce socialising.
Contact with LGBT people is not rare in this sample: 26.21% report having a friend of homosexual orientation, 8.65% a neighbour, and 6.36% a colleague. At the same time, 26.21% say they do not know and do not want to meet a homosexual person, while 12.98% report the opposite stance—they do not know one, but would like to.
The claim that “homosexuality is a disease” further polarises respondents: 38.01% do not agree with it at all, while 53.10% express some level of agreement, and 8.89% have no opinion.
When it comes to the effects of the Parade, respondents are most willing to acknowledge its contribution to opening the topic: 53.64% believe the Parade contributed at least partly to discussion about the position of the LGBT population. However, most do not believe it reduces homophobia (53.64% say “not at all”) or discrimination (52.29% “not at all”). In other words, the Parade is seen more as an event that initiates conversation than as an instrument of rapid attitude change.
The participant profile suggests a more “urban” online cross-section: women make up 56.60%, and the median age is 31 (range 14–80). On the hypothetical question “if elections were tomorrow,” 20.75% would not vote, 7.55% would spoil/void their ballot, and 15.63% do not know whom they would vote for—indicating political distance among part of the sample.
Methodological note: this was an online, self-selected sample (N=371), so the findings do not represent a representative cross-section of Serbia’s population.