David Wallner has carried his friend and roommate on his wrist Matúš Horváth rainbow bracelet since the young man’s life ended suddenly and violently on a Bratislava night in mid-October.
– I still send him memes on Instagram. It’s strange, but I try to keep the memory of his sense of humor alive, Vallner tells in a video call.
Horváth, 23, and Juraj Vankulic, 26, died when a 19-year-old man shot them in front of the Tepláreň bar, popular with sexual and gender minorities, in the Slovak capital. In addition, one person was injured in the shooting.
publishes the names of the victims because they have been published, among other things, in the European Parliament’s statement and in Slovak and international media.
According to David Vallner, the rainbow minorities in Slovakia are used to prejudice and even violence. However, the capital of a Catholic and conservative country has been considered a relatively safe and tolerant place for minorities.
Now a fragile sense of security is in the way.
– This has been a shock. Now we have to ask in which direction this country is going, says Vallner.
A month after the shooting, the rights of sexual and gender minorities do not seem to be improving, says an assistant professor at Comenius University in Bratislava Pavol Baboš To .
– If politicians were allowed to decide, these issues would not be discussed in public. They would rather sweep them under the carpet, says Baboš.
The minister swore his celibacy, the archbishop blamed the victims
This autumn, sweeping under the carpet has not been possible.
A couple of days after the shooting, the center of Bratislava was filled with a demonstration, where 20,000 people gathered to mourn the victims of the attack and demand an intervention in hate crimes.
Almost from the beginning, the police have considered hatred towards sexual and gender minorities as the motive for the attack. The suspect’s Twitter account was full of material proclaiming white supremacy and updates with the hashtags #viharikos and #homobaari. Before the attack, he published an anti-gay and anti-Jewish “manifesto” online.
The suspect shot himself shortly after the attack. The police are investigating the attack as terrorism.
The president gave a speech at the memorial service with tears in his eyes Zuzana Caputová said that hatred has no place in Slovakia. The Prime Minister who was there Eduard Heger described the attacker as a “radicalized teenager”.
After the attack, a handful of public figures came out publicly about their homosexuality as a show of support.
Shows of sympathy have also been followed by strong backlash.
Three days after the shooting, Slovakia’s finance minister and previous prime minister Igor Matovič announced on social media (you switch to another service) in capital letters:
– I’M STRAIGHT. I am a man and I feel like a man.
The subject tag of the minister’s update was #Don’t be ashamed of yourself.
The archbishop also caused consternation Ján Oroschin sent an internal church message in which he doubted the innocence of the victims of the attack. The archbishop apologized for his words after the Slovak police also publicly condemned them, reports the news agency Bloomberg (you will switch to another service).
Fear has increased since the attack
Hate speech and hate crimes against rainbow minorities have increased throughout Europe, says Europe’s largest rainbow organization Ilga (you will switch to another service) in its most recent report.
This is also the case in Slovakia, where, according to Ilga, hate speech has increased in parliament, especially during the current government.
After the attack, the European Parliament published a resolution (you are moving to another service), in which it called on Slovakia to immediately improve the rights of rainbow minorities and criticized members of the country’s government for using “offensive, hateful and homophobic” language. The EU Parliament expressed its concern about hate crimes in Europe more broadly.
David Vallner, a friend of Matúš Horváth, who died in the shooting, says that fear has increased in Bratislava’s rainbow community. In the future, he will think carefully about where to spend his evenings.
The Tepláreň bar, previously known as a safe hangout, has remained closed.
– The bar was a tiny place with mediocre and a bit too expensive drinks. However, it was the only place where you could freely spend the evening in the company of queer friends, says Vallner.
After the shooting, several verbal and physical attacks against rainbow people have come to the attention of the police, and the media has covered them spectacularly.
– The shooting has encouraged others as well. Fanatics are now testing the limits, Vallner believes.
Assistant professor Baboš says that the attacks have not necessarily increased since October, but they are reported and the police investigate them more sensitively than before.
It’s a good thing for him, because at least the situation is now being talked about openly.
The president ripped the lawmakers
Shooting at law changes that improve the status of minorities is unlikely to have any effect in the near future.
At the grassroots level, the improvement of rights is mainly driven by the rainbow organization Inakosť (you switch to another service), who did not respond to ‘s request for an interview. However, the possibility of non-governmental organizations to influence politics is limited.
According to Baboš, there is a small chance that laws increasing equality would be passed. However, they too would remain modest.
– Conservative parties will continue to have a majority in parliament. So you have to find compromises with them, and you shouldn’t make enemies of them.
The situation is very frustrating for the rainbow community, Baboš admits.
– They have very little trust in the government or any party that they would seriously try to improve the situation.
A week after the October shooting, the Slovak government rejected an opposition party bill that would have promoted equality before the law for same-sex couples.
President Čaputová scolded the legislators for that decision.
– Our society pays the price for indifference and insensitivity, when even such a terrible tragedy does not convince the legislators to take the right step, the president thundered.
David Vallner also says that he was disappointed by the lackluster reaction after the attack.
– I try to be optimistic, but the general feeling is that things will get worse before they get better. So if they get better at all, he says.
Ahead of Hungary and Poland?
Vallner says that the current situation in Slovakia seems unbearable. For him, walking past his roommate’s empty room is a daily reminder of that.
– For the first time in years, I have considered packing up and moving somewhere abroad. Let’s run away from ghosts, says Vallner.
According to him, many others in Bratislava’s rainbow community are now thinking the same thing.
– If you haven’t moved out of the country before, you’ve at least moved here to the capital. Now it feels like the last bastion has fallen.
A Slovakian who knew the shot Matúš Horváth is also on the same lines Ojko Halászwho moved to Holland years ago.
– I don’t want to return to Slovakia and I will never live there again. Most queer people left in the country are unhappy and have to experience a lot of shit, Halász tells .
– I fear the most that Slovakia will follow the path of Poland and Hungary. Fascist speech has become normalized in parliament.
The governments of Slovakia’s neighboring countries, Hungary and Poland, have been systematically eroding the rights of sexual and gender minorities for years.
Researcher Baboš says that Halász’s concern is justified.
According to him, the rights of the rainbow minorities are rather irrelevant to the big parties in Slovakia. However, the winner of the parliamentary elections to be held in a little over a year may need a small far-right party in the government coalition. Therefore, weakening the status of minorities could be a key goal in the government.
Slovakian politics in recent years already moved (you switch to another service) in a more value-conservative direction. Politicians across party lines have praised the way the Polish and Hungarian governments handle things.
The limit at which support for minorities stops
Baboš led a survey at the beginning of this year, according to which three-quarters of Slovaks support improving the legal status of same-sex couples, in terms of inheritance, taxation and benefits, for example.
Instead, the attitude was very negative towards same-sex marriage, adoption and raising the other spouse’s biological child together.
– That is the limit at which support for the rights of same-sex couples drops very significantly, Baboš says.
In 2014, Slovakia wrote into the constitution that marriage is specifically between a woman and a man.
A eulogy at a friend’s funeral
At the end of October, David Vallner gave a memorial speech at Matúš Horváth’s funeral. They had been close friends and roommates, so it was important for Vallner to tell everyone what Horváth was like in everyday life.
A kind, funny and caring person who no one had a bad word to say about. Many fun evenings together were spent partying at the club or just at home drinking beer and playing League of Legends.
– I was able to give the speech without crying only because I had practiced it so many times.
Vallner says recently that he was happy to see how his friend finally started to get a hold of life after the rough experiences of his youth.
– It makes me extremely angry. The most tragic thing here is that Matúš had just taken the first steps towards realizing the possibilities of his life.
Last weekend, a two-week holiday began in Slovakia Tepláreň Festival (switch to another service)which aims to revitalize the rainbow community, promote rights and honor the victims of the bar shooting.
The name of the first program number was: Concert for Matúš and Juraj.
Sources: Reuters, AFP, AP