The Official Gays.com Blog

Anti-gay protests broke out last week in Lezhë, Albania, after a Big Brother Albania contestant by the name of Klodian became the first person to announce that he was gay on the reality television series. 35 year old Klodian was born in Lezhë but left in 1993 to settle in Milan, Italy. Despite a new anti-discrimination law introduced earlier this year by the government of Prime Minister Sali Berisha to protect residents from discrimination on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation, Albania remains one of the most homophobic nations in Europe. Carrie Ann Morgan, a Peace Corps volunteer living in Albania, tells us more:

The most popular television show here in Albania is Big Brother Shqiperia. You will find almost every Albanian family gathered around the television on Saturday evenings getting their weekly dose of Big Brother, which should give them enough gossip to last until the next week. Well, this week’s episode revealed the homosexuality of one of the residents of the Big Brother house, and that proved to be fuel for more than just gossip, but social outrage as protests broke out in the Northern coastal town of Lezha. I watched the news, somehow astounded despite all I know about Albanian culture, as masses of men and boys took to the streets calling for the cast member’s removal from the show, screaming “hiqe, hiqe Klodi!” They seemed to refuse to believe that an Albanian could be homosexual, and tried to pass off his homosexuality as a result of his being a Kosovar, not an Albanian. I find it funny that during the war in Kosovo, Albanians and Kosovars were one and the same.

Despite the outpouring of anger over just one Albanian revealing his homosexuality to the country, the passage of the anti-discrimination law caused no outrage. After all, it was just a law, which Albanians lack any serious reverence for in the first place – a social norm in and of itself. Furthermore, it was something abstract. There is not much of an openly gay community here in Albania because of fear of social backlash. So, again social norms and social pressures trumped all, as many Albanians expressed their disagreement with homosexuality. (Though I must note, the opposition and extremity here usually comes from men. Women I speak with are more likely to either accept or have a softer stance against homosexuality.)