http://www.washblade.com/2008/3-28/news/localnews/12291.cfm
WASHINGTON BLADE (USA)
Gay Kosovo native adjusts to life in D.C.
Activist won asylum after threats from Islamic fundamentalists
CHRIS JOHNSON
Friday, March 28, 2008
A large blue-and-white poster with the word "peace" written across it
covers
the front window of Korab Zuka's Washington apartment.
The Kosovo native put the poster up as a practical matter. While
babysitting
his landlord's dog, Zuka went shopping and left the pet in his
apartment.
When Zuka returned, he found that the dog had chewed through the
blinds on
his front window, leaving his front room exposed. A poster would have
to do
as a makeshift blind.
The 23-year-old said he created the poster and decorated it with the
word
"peace" because, "if people believed in a little more peace, then I
wouldn't
have had to go through all the crap that I went through."
Zuka fled to the United States last year after an Islamic
fundamentalist
group in Kosovo threatened to kill him for being gay and for leading a
gay
advocacy group. The State Department granted him asylum Feb. 29.
Zuka's recent escape was not the first time he had to flee his country
to
maintain his safety. In 1999, he left a war-decimated Kosovo as
Serbian
President Slobodan Miloevi=E7 attempted to purge the Serbian homeland of
ethnic Albanians, such as Zuka. A 13-year-old Zuka and his family
sought
temporary safety in a Canadian refugee camp.
"I've been put so many times in very uncomfortable situations and the
first
was the war and [the second was when] I had to leave because I was
gay,"
Zuka said.
In April 2005, Zuka set up the Center for Social Emancipation, an
organization aimed at helping Kosovo gays. The center organized social
gatherings and distributed information to keep the community better
informed.
The group had about 200 members, but none of them were registered by
name
because they were afraid of being outed, Zuka said. He said he didn't
know
half of the members' names and instead had to refer to them by
nicknames or
by letters like X or B.
The center maintained a web site that informed the community about
safety
practices and legal ramifications of being gay. The site informed
people
that gay activity is legal in the country and attempted to debunk a
common
belief in Kosovo that homosexuality is a disease.
Zuka said the site included information stating that "you can play
football
and still be gay - it's cool. Don't kill yourself over it."
Zuka rented apartments in the area and listed only his name as an
occupant
so others would not know it belonged to a gay association. Through
word of
mouth, people would come in the evenings to meet. Zuka changed the
location
of the meeting place when it became too apparent that gay people were
gathering there. He went through three locations in two-and-a-half
years.
As head of the center, Zuka also advised the Kosovo police
commissioner on
gay issues. Zuka was part of a working group with the police that
attempted
to mitigate the number of gay bashings in the country.
Zuka said the police there had a history of hostility to gays even
when they
were victims of crimes. Police would often call victims "faggots" and
other
gay slurs even after their "limbs were broken or their eyes had been
smashed
out," Zuka said.
"Every time someone complained to the police, they were sort of
further
victimized," he said.
"I wanted the police to not do that anymore."
Zuka said the police kicked him out of the working group because he
often
complained about them to local media.
Zuka continued to work for the center until a television appearance
forced
him to flee the country. Last year, Zuka appeared on a local talk show
to
discuss the center. He was hidden behind a curtain, his voice was
scrambled
and his name was not given, but somehow his identity was divulged, he
said.
He received death threats and his car was vandalized. Zuka went to the
police, but their response was "if they want to kill you, they'll just
kill
you, so we cannot protect you," he said.
Zuka received a message signed by an Islamic fundamentalist group
stating
that his home and family would be bombed if he did not leave Kosovo.
That's
when he decided to flee. Zuka still had a U.S. visa from the time he
earned
his associate's degree at the Leadership Institute of Seattle, so he
decided
to come to the United States.
At his new home in Washington, Zuka still maintains contact with the
Center
for Social Emancipation, but he says the organization is mostly
paralyzed.
No one else has had the courage to come forward and be the public face
for
the organization, he said.
Zuka said hard work and a long period of time are needed to improve
the
situation for gays in Kosovo.
"I think it's the Balkan mentality - we pass on hatred from one
generation
to another one," he said.
Michael Luongo, author of "Gay Travels in the Muslim World," said
although
Kosovo's Islamic culture plays a role in its hostility toward gays,
the
problem for gays in Kosovo lies more in the country's history as a
Communist-controlled country.
"The Soviet satellite countries are far behind the rest of Europe," he
said.
"So it's not necessarily an impact of Islam."
Luongo said Europe should mandate that these nations improve
conditions for
their gay citizens in order for them to achieve status as members of
the
European Union.
"These countries have to realize that they will not be allowed in the
E.U. .
unless they address gay rights issues," he said.
The State Department's recently released annual report on human rights
violations, which includes information on hostility toward gays
overseas,
states that although discrimination based on sexual orientation is
illegal
in Kosovo, there were still "reports of violence and discrimination
directed
against gays and lesbians."
"Traditional societal attitudes about homosexuality intimidated most
gays
and lesbians into concealing their sexual orientation," the report
states.
"The print media at times reinforced these attitudes by publishing
negative
articles about homosexuality that characterized gays and lesbians as
mentally ill and prone to sexually assaulting children."
Zuka said he feels sorry for the gay people in Kosovo now that the
country
is independent and no longer under United Nations control. He noted
that
when international forces controlled the country, police force leaders
would
often come from Western countries. Now he expects police leaders to be
entirely local officials.
Zuka is now looking for a new job and opportunities in the United
States.
He's taking an online course with the Rochester Institute of
Technology and
is only a few classes away from earning a bachelor's degree in project
management and online business. For a time, he volunteered at Whitman-
Walker
Clinic, helping with patient intake and organizing files. He is
exploring a
possible career in business management.
Zuka said the best thing about the United States is that people are
free to
express themselves, but he noted that often people take this freedom
for
granted.
"These are fundamental rights, so you should take them for granted,
but not
every country has them," he said.
Zuka also said he misses the "comfort zone" he enjoyed with his family
in
Kosovo. He said his mother calls him three or four times a week to
inquire
about his safety.
"There's nowhere like home - I guess that saying is kind of true," he
said.
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