In June 2017, the whole world rushed to congratulate Serbia on the appointment of its first ever female and lesbian prime minister, Ana Brnabić — a political choice signifying the revival of democratic, progressive, “European” values that had seemed to die with the 2003 assassination of post-Milošević prime minister Zoran Đinđić. One obvious expectation arose: surely the first lesbian PM would work to improve the human rights of LGBTQ people in Serbia? If you ask LGBTQ people or human rights activists what having Brnabić as PM means for them, the most common answer is: nothing much. It would be pretty naive to think otherwise. Queer communities, activists and artists remain marginalised. Where does this disjuncture come from?

Only a month after she was handpicked by controversial President Aleksandar Vučić, she made it clear that she did not want to be branded as “Serbia’s gay PM”. Understandably, Ms Brnabić wants to be known for her professional accomplishments, especially in the spheres of digitalisation, growth and progress towards EU membership, and, recently, the development of creative industries. Indeed, when she first joined the government as Minister of Public Administration and Local Self-Government, she was outed as gay by Vučić rather than coming out herself; branded by the man who chose her as his successor, while he maintained control over everything that goes on in the country — as analysts and LGBTQ activists alike would agree.