Albanian centre right causes stir with homophobic, ‘Soros’ statement
Albania’s centre-right Democratic Party caused outrage over the weekend after the Head of the Secretariat for Human Rights, Bislim Ahmetaj, called the LGBTIQ community poison and said it is pushing propaganda from George Soros.
The outburst came after an animated film for young people featuring two male characters that fall in love was screened at a cinema in the capital of Tirana.
“As the Secretary for Human Rights in the Democratic Party, I appeal to parents and teachers to denounce any attempt to give legality to the poison that is spread through films and various forms of propaganda in our public and private schools,” he told the media in a statement.
The party will “always be in defence of the traditional family”, he said, adding that they will “oppose any kind of propaganda of the Sorosian type that promotes “Parent 1” and “Parent 2”, or that “to being gay is the most normal thing possible”.
A report by SciDev in 2021 looking at anti-Semitic discourse in the Western Balkans found that while Albania has a history of protecting Jewish people, sheltering several thousand during World War II, conspiracy theories about Soros are on the rise.
It noted that frequent conspiracy narratives and allegations concerning Soros “exacerbates the antagonism between left and right political actors in Albania, their allies, and their supporters. It also aggravates the existing vulnerability of average citizens to disinformation and conspiracy theories.”
Under Albanian law, same-sex couples cannot get married or enter a civil partnership, nor can they adopt or legally register children.
In 2021, an Albanian same-sex couple made headlines when it came to light they could not register the birth of their twins because Albanian law would only accept registering the twins if they have a mother and a father. The suggestion was that alongside mother and father, there could be parent one and parent two.
However, some media reported that the LGBTIQ community wanted to do away with the terms mother and father, resulting in the mothers of the unregistered babies receiving death threats.
LGBTIQ matters are still very taboo in Albania with many members of the community gaining asylum abroad, or facing unemployment, homelessness, discrimination and even physical attacks in the country. The ruling Socialist Party has expressed cautious support for the community but has so far stayed away from changing any laws to improve equality.
However, in 2020, the Albanian Order of Psychologists announced it will prevent all members from offering conversion therapy. This decision effectively bans conversion therapy in the country as all psychologists must receive their licence from the Order of Psychologists to practice.
“I call on parents and educators to denounce to the Secretariat for Human Rights any act that incites, encourages or promotes deviations from normality that violates the basic principles of the family, the column that has ensured the historical survival of our nation,” the politician added in his statement.
(Alice Taylor | Exit.al)
