Serbia's president said on Saturday the country will not host European LGBTIQ+ event EuroPride next month, but organisers have vowed to press on with the parade.
Many LGBTIQ+ people in Serbia live in fear and suffer physical and emotional abuse.
"The pride parade, however you call that thing, scheduled for September, will be postponed or cancelled," President Aleksandar Vucic told a press conference.
Mr Vucic said Serbia was "pressured with all kinds of problems", underlining recent tensions with former province Kosovo and concerns over energy and food.
"Simply, at some point, you can't handle everything. In another time, a happier one," Mr Vucic said.
Serbia's Prime Minister Ana Brnabic, who is gay, received a third consecutive mandate just minutes before Mr Vucic made the announcement, and sat in the front row while he spoke.
In a statement, the government said the decision was made on the grounds of safety.
It said "certain extremist groups could use and abuse this event and Serbia's will to organise it in order to further increase tensions and bring Serbia into instability".
Organisers struck a defiant tone.
"The state cannot cancel EuroPride — it can only attempt to forbid it, which would be a clear breach of the constitution", Belgrade Pride coordinator Marko Mihailovic wrote on Twitter.
"Pride will go ahead as planned on 17 September," he said.
'Downright lies'
Kristine Garina, President of the European Pride Organisers Association (EPOA) — which licenses EuroPride — said "neither the hosts of EuroPride 2022, Belgrade Pride, nor us as the licensor will cancel EuroPride in Belgrade."
"Aside from the illegality of such a ban, it must be noted that those opposing EuroPride in Belgrade are using tired old tropes, inaccuracies and downright lies to discredit what is, in fact, a celebration of human rights and equality," she said.
"EuroPride in Belgrade will not be cancelled... what Serbian authorities must do is stand firm against these bullies, and protect the event."
Serbia's hosting of EuroPride was "an important step along the path toward achieving equality for the LGBTIQ+ community in the Western Balkans", the organisers said earlier.
Holding hands in public remains taboo for same-sex couples in the country, where almost 60 percent of LGBTIQ+ people have reported physical or emotional abuse in the course of a year, according to a 2020 survey by human rights organisations IDEAS and GLIC.
Serbia's LGBTIQ+ community regularly faces violence, including attacks on Belgrade's Pride parades in previous years.
A law to regulate same-sex unions was due to be voted in parliament last year, but Mr Vucic said he could not sign it as the Serbian constitution "defines marriage as a legally regulated union of a man and a woman".
The influential Serbian Orthodox Church has historically played a key role in shaping public opinion, and has previously branded the annual Belgrade Pride march "a parade of shame".
The Church applauded the state's decision to pull back from hosting EuroPride 2022, stating that the parade would cause "further tensions and divisions between our people".
"Holding such a 'parade', which serves to promote LGBT ideology... would not benefit anyone", the Church said in a statement.
"It would cause further tensions and new divisions, along with revolt and bitterness among the believers."
