About Us

As Balkan people, we are scattered around the world - as queer Balkan people, we often ask ourselves “who are my people? Where is my community?” This is the need we are striving to meet.  

We are queer Balkan people living in the diaspora. Our work in building community for queer Balkan folks is inherently political because our identities have been politicized. As queer people, we struggle to find place in diasporic Balkan communities, and as Balkan people, we struggle to find place in Western queer spaces that center white Western norms.  The further we are from Western notions of whiteness (be that by being Muslim, non-Slav, Roma, etc), the truer this is. We are here to create a community where we can bring out whole selves.

Many of us living in the West have internalized dangerous and deeply-harmful Western-centric, often homonationalist notions of queer liberation. Many of us have been led to believe that queerness is unnatural to the Balkan experience and is a "Western" concept. We take an intersectional approach: we are connected through our shared struggle but acknowledge the unique experiences within our communities, be that based on gender, religion, ethnicity, or other intersecting aspects of identity.

We are doing this to build community for queer Balkan people around the world, particularly those in diaspora who have struggled to find a place where they can bring their whole selves. For many of us, we struggle to find a place in Balkan diasporic communities as queer people and struggle to find a place in queer community (which usually centers white Western norms).

We may also live with other intersections that complicate our identity and our sense of belonging and place (e.g. being trans or non-binary, being Muslim, being from a multi-ethnic family, being disabled). We strive to create a space where we can fully show up as our complicated selves and be seen, where we can build strength in our shared experiences, celebrate our differences, have tough conversations about our intersections, and show up in accountability and care in conflict. 

We believe that:

  • Our collective struggle & liberation is intertwined with global struggles of all Balkan folks, of all queer folks, of all folks facing oppression, from Palestine to Turtle Island. 

  • As queer Balkan folks, we stand against war, imperialism, capitalism, & all other forms of oppression.

  • We cannot fight for our lives without fighting for worker rights, racial justice, reproductive justice, climate justice, Indigenous sovereignty (for those of us living on colonized lands, such as the so-called “USA” and “Canada”), and all other struggles.

Purpose

Pillars of our work

  • Building online, global community, as well as tangible community-building through connecting folks to other queer Balkan people in their area and engaging in mutual aid practices.  We have historically been a collectivist culture and many of us in diaspora have also relied on other Balkan folks in our communities in informal ways as newcomers (translation, child care, etc). Mutual aid practices are also standard in other marginalized communities, such as queer and trans and BIPOC communities. As queer Balkan folks, we may not always have full, safe, and affirming access to communities where we can show up as our full selves for ourselves and others. 

    As part of community, we engage in financial mutual aid and skills sharing for the collective (e.g. a few people who are good at social media might run the account, while other people may be good at organizing or have a specific skill set).

  • Part of social change is about education and part of healing and community is also about sharing knowledge and skills. This means we contribute our skills to building the collective, be that to organizing, mutual aid, collective care, or creating art. This also means collectively contributing to the re-discovery and co-creation of Balkan histories and narratives that are inclusive and nuanced.  

  • Our work in building community for queer Balkan folks is inherently political because our identities have been politicized. We also acknowledge that our collective struggle is intertwined with global struggles of all Balkan folks, of all queer folks, of all folks facing oppression. We cannot fight for our lives without fighting for racial justice, reproductive justice, climate justice, Indigenous sovereignty, and all other struggles.

  • Building community, telling our stories, and navigating complex identities together is inherently healing. We also engage in healing through therapist and peer-led groups and healing circles.  We also believe that collective healing must sometimes include difficult conversations and repair after ruptures so we believe in accountability and transformative justice.