Gays fear for future in Martinek's Deltariaby Radomíra SashaMarch 3519
Jabari Kiprotich (left) & Luboš Havlíček (right)On February 14th 3508, Jabari Kiprotich and Luboš Havlíček finally got married at a registry office in the city where they lived, Hadsingojer, which then had a reputation as one of Deltaria's most gay friendly cities. "We'd been putting it off for months because we didn't want all of the hassle of organising the reception," says Luboš, "but in the end our friends agreed to arrange it all for us and it was a fantastic day - the best of my life". Life was going well for them, then. They both had good jobs, and felt relatively accepted in society. Jabari's Utemban ethnicity sometimes raised eyebrows when people saw them together. In a society where most Utembans are slaves, people have a tendency to look down on anyone with black skin. In fact, Jabari himself used to be a slave to Luboš's father, until a love-struck Luboš, after some difficulty, persuaded his old man to free him.
Then,
in 3508, a rising politician known as Vladan Martinek passed a law to legally dissolve their marriage and ban same-sex unions. "We were disgusted," says Jabari. "But still, things weren't so bad at that time - we knew we loved each other and would always be together, whatever the government thought of us."
The social and political climate became much more hostile towards gays and lesbians after Martinek's
Hosiany Národná Strana faction swept to power in October 3513. "You could feel the change instantly - as soon as Martinek came in," says Jabari. "People started looking at you and treating you differently. And the folks who previously left you alone became bold, and started insulting you and pushing you around."
In September 3515 the government's notorious
Anti-Homosexual Bill was passed, banning gays from the military and making homosexuality a criminal offence - albeit not one to be prosecuted. "We thought at first that this wouldn't affect us, because we're not in the army," says Luboš. "But almost immediately, the whole attitude of the police and the authorities changed. We were treated like criminals, even though we hadn't done anything. The cops kept raiding and searching our house, and pulling us over in the car - just for the hell of it. Then we started having trouble with gangs of extremist, Hosian youths who kept harassing us - throwing things at our windows and shouting at us as we went in and out of the house. And you can imagine what the police were like - they were absolutely useless. The worst point came when I was locked up by the police for 9 days because one of the youths made a false complaint about me sexually molesting him. That police cell was awful. They gave me hardly any water, even though it was burning hot. In the end they released me without charge, but I really thought I was going to die."
After the police released him, Luboš and his partner fled the country for Zardugal, with the money and help of Luboš's father. "We just couldn't take it any more," says Jabari. "I just know that if we stayed in Deltaria, we'd have ended up dead."
Getting reliable news and information out of Deltaria is not an easy task at the moment because of severe media restrictions, but according to our best sources, the situation for sexual minorities has, if anything, deteriorated further since Luboš and Jabari were driven out 12 months ago. The Hosian street gangs are becoming more dangerous, and the authorities show little sign of wanting to challenge them.
Two months ago radicalised Hosian youths smashed up perfectly law-abiding Indralan restaurants in a notorious "Day of Carnage", but the Justice Minister only responded by saying there would be no prosecutions.
"If they can get away with that towards the Indralans, then it is only a matter of time before they do exactly the same to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community," reflects Jabari. "And if Martinek gets re-elected later this year, you can bet your life he will persecute us much worse than he has so far."
Radomíra Sasha is a former Deltarian journalist who had to flee the country after receiving death threats in response to articles she wrote that criticised powerful members of the Deltarian aristocracy. She now lives in Ponte Iglesias, Dranland.