No. 07-00-128/2020-02  Date: 12.02.2021.

OPINION

The opinion was issued in the procedure regarding the complaint of the AA association filed against BB, a journalist of VV television from Niš. The complaint states, among other things, that on December 4, 2019, in the TV show “M.ć.” within the morning program, the journalist BB expressed views that insult the dignity of LGBT people and create a hostile, humiliating and insulting environment. In her statement regarding the complaint, BB stated that “M.ć.” is a show she has been authoring for several years now, and that she always takes some officially published information as a basis, which she then comments on from her point of view, as well as that her essence and basic thread of reflection is the Ecology of the spirit, not discrimination of sexual orientation. During the procedure, it was determined that on December 4, 2019, within the morning program of VV television, the show “M.ć” was broadcasted, in which the journalist BB expressed her views and opinions regarding several different social events.  Also, it was determined that BB’s allegations from this show were fully transferred to the text entitled: “Why not say it – – the ecology of the spirit”, which was published on December 4, 2019 on the website of the City Portal 018 On this occasion, among other things, the journalist BB, asking “will someone talk about the pollutants of human souls and minds, or will we all be silent, slowly turning into amoebas”, stated: “And we already are.” “All of us, who watch the shows Cooperative and Couples, for whom a fake picture on Facebook is the greatest achievement of life, all of us who are women and become fathers to our children (which God knows how were born), all of us who yell and jump at some gay parades promoting abnormality as normalcy, all of us who have strayed into the wrong alley because someone directed us there, promising us the moon We are all amoebas, ruled by the greatest polluter of human souls and minds, who need us as we have become, to follow him blindly.” The Commissioner for the Protection of Equality conducted a procedure in which she considered the allegations from the complaint and the statement, the views and opinions of the journalist BB presented in her column, relevant domestic and international legal regulations, as well as the views and practice of the European Court of Human Rights. When analyzing the ideas and attitudes expressed by the journalist BB, the Commissioner first had in mind that the right to freedom of expression is not unlimited, and that the protection of the reputation and rights of others is one of the legitimate restrictions on this right. Analyzing BB’s allegations, in particular: “All of us who yell and jump at some gay parades, promoting abnormality as normality”, the Commissioner pointed out that this attitude towards LGBT people places them in the context of abnormality and disease, even though the World Health Organization removed homosexuality from the list of diseases in 1990. Also, placing people of a different sexual orientation in any context of disease and abnormality is discriminatory, offensive and humiliating. Such attitudes and ideas encourage discrimination and stigmatization of members of the LGBT population, as well as a sense of isolation from the majority population, just because their sexual orientation is different from heterosexual. In addition, the Commissioner pointed out that the journalist BB has the full right and freedom to comment and express her opinion on a certain social phenomenon, but that it is inadmissible that an opinion on a certain social phenomenon, no matter how critical, insults an entire social group, just because they have a certain personal characteristic, such as, in this particular case, sexual orientation. Therefore, the Commissioner gave the opinion that the ideas and attitudes expressed by the journalist BB in her column that was broadcasted on December 4, 2019 within the morning program of VV television, and the text entitled “What not to say – the ecology of the spirit”, which was published on City portal 018, violated Article 12 of the Law on Prohibition of Discrimination. The Commissioner recommended that, during the next broadcast of her show, BB apologize to persons of a different sexual orientation for the expressed viewpoints that violate the dignity of a group of persons on the basis of personal characteristics, and to refrain in the future from making statements that discriminate against persons on the basis of any personal characteristics.

COMMISSIONER FOR THE PROTECTION OF EQUALITY
Brankica Janković