serbia's president quit to run for prime minister, so a lesbian is running the country for up to three months. the activists have notes.

via Al Jazeera, Euronews, European Western Balkans, IBTimes UK, Attitude and PinkNews

The Balkans have an openly lesbian head of state this week. Nobody voted for it, it will last three months at most, and a good share of Serbia's own queer activists are shrugging. It is still a sentence nobody would have bet on ten years ago.

how ana brnabić got the job

On Sunday, Sept. 27, President Aleksandar Vučić resigned, Al Jazeera and Euronews report, so he can run for prime minister in a snap parliamentary election on Oct. 25. His second term would have ended next May and the constitution bars a third, Euronews notes. "I want to compete, as an ordinary person, as a man of the people, against those who are against the people," he said at his final press conference, per European Western Balkans, which is a funny thing to hear from a man finishing his second term as president.

Under Serbia's constitution the speaker of parliament steps in, and the speaker is Ana Brnabić, a close Vučić ally, who took over on Monday, Sept. 28, EWB, IBTimes UK and Attitude all report. The job is largely ceremonial and capped at three months; Vučić said the first round of a presidential election has to happen by the end of the year. EWB says she is now the only person in Serbian history to have held all three top offices of state.

why the activists are not throwing a parade

Brnabić became Serbia's first openly gay prime minister in 2017 and walked in Belgrade Pride that year, saying, as PinkNews and IBTimes UK both quote it, "The government is here for all citizens and will secure the respect of rights for all citizens." In 2019 her partner, Milica Đurđić, gave birth to their son, reported by Balkan Insight and The Advocate at the time. Same-sex marriage and adoption are still not legal in Serbia.

Activists spent those years saying her presence was not the same as her help. When the baby arrived, one Belgrade Pride organizer told Balkan Insight it "just shows how much privileged she is." In 2022, Serbian police banned the EuroPride march in Belgrade, a bid she had endorsed in writing in 2019, Civil Rights Defenders noted. When a crowd chanted "we want Pride" at her, she said she was "probably the only person discriminated against by both communities," PinkNews reported, citing N1.

So: a lesbian with a family now holds the highest office in a country where she cannot legally marry her partner, on loan from the man who just resigned it, until he decides what he wants next. Representation is complicated. Sometimes it is also just a placeholder.