OPINION

The opinion was issued regarding the complaint of the Association AA, which was submitted on behalf of and with the consent of BB against the Association VV due to discrimination based on sexual orientation. The complaint stated that BB, on the night between July 28 and 29, 2018, suffered harassment and sexual harassment from a group of young men in the club VV because she was kissing a girl. Although she sought protection from the security guards, they denied her that protection. After that, the complaint stated that on August 5, 2018, BB was banned from entering the club VV because she kissed and danced with a girl on July 28-29, 2018. In the statement of the president of the Association VV, it was stated that BB’s sexual orientation was not the reason for banning her from entering the club, but rather her threatening and uncivilized behavior towards the club’s security staff. In the proceedings, based on the presented evidence and applying the rules on distribution of the burden of proof prescribed by Article 45 of the Law on Prohibition of Discrimination, it was established that after BB requested protection from the young men who harassed her because she was kissing a girl, the security guards did not implement effective and adequate measures to protect her from the harassment due to which she turned to them for help, but their “intervention” was rather related to counseling BB that with her behavior, that is, by expressing her sexual orientation, she could put herself in danger. Furthermore, when it comes to the decision to ban BB from entering the club VV, during the procedure it was determined that the Association VV did not provide any evidence that BB’s behavior was such that it required a ban from entering the club, and even that there was a verbal conflict between her and the security guards. On the other hand, the impression is that the security guards did not want to risk a possible recurrence of an incident in which they would have to react. Therefore, the Commissioner issued the opinion that the Association VV violated the provisions of Article 6 in connection with Article 21, paragraph 2 of the Law on Prohibition of Discrimination. Therefore, the president of the Association VV was recommended to send a written apology to BB for discriminatory treatment towards her, within 15 days of receiving this opinion with recommendation, as well as that the Association provides mechanisms that will ensure adequate protection against harassment of visitors due to their sexual orientation or any other personal characteristic, and that, in the future, does not violate the regulations on prohibition of discrimination.

COMMISSIONER FOR THE PROTECTION OF EQUALITY

Brankica Janković