Last updated on January 30th, 2021 at 11:02 am
We strongly protest against the lawsuit filed against Mr. Vladimir Dimitrijević, a renowned public thinker and writer, and an iFamNews contributor. The trial, to take place on 26 January 2021, is about freedom of opinion and expression.
Here we publish the defense prepared by Dimitrijević himself, in order to acquaint the broader audience with how meaningless the legal procedure against Mr. Dimitrijević is.
— iFamNews Editors
Why I wrote the essay entitled, “In Defense of the Natural Family”
The essay “In Defense of the Natural Family”, published in January 2018, is the reason charges have been filed against me by the “Da Se Zna!” (“Let It Be Known”) NGO—first to the Commissioner for the Protection of Equality for the Republic of Serbia, and later to the Higher Court in Belgrade. The Commissioner demanded that I remove the essay and apologize to homosexual political lobby, and then declared that I was a “discriminator”. The lawsuit at the Higher Court continues on 26 January 2021, one day before the great feast of the Serbian prince and first Archbishop of the independent Serbian Church, St. Sava the Enlightener.
I wrote the essay in question as part of a public debate over the attempted enforcement of the anti-family Law on Gender Equality, which was based on non-scientific Gender Theory. This theory is a natural “ally” of the ideology of political homosexuality, whose goal is to demolish every aspect of natural sexuality, and which also denies the existence of men and women. Gabriele Kuby stated the following in respect to the ideas of Judith Butler, one of the main proponents of such lies: “Any person’s sexuality is a phantasm, merely something we believe in because it is so often repeated. Gender cannot be associated with biological sex, which plays absolutely no role and which is manifested only because it is present in the language, and because people believe things that they keep hearing about.” [Mr. Dimitrijević’s detailed analysis of Kuby’s book The Global Sexual Revolution was posted on iFamNews at Serbian page in three parts—Ed.]
The Church’s position and my stance
I have dealt with the issues of the demolition of the natural family and enforcement of political homosexuality since the beginning of my work as an author and catechist. I elaborated on my stance thoroughly in the essay, “The Teaching of the Orthodox Church on Homosexuality: Sin or Sexual Orientation”, published back in 2011 in the scientific journal, The New Serbian Political Thought, as a review paper. The stances which I presented in my articles, including the essay “In Defense of the Natural Family”, are an expression of the religious and moral teaching of the Orthodox Church.
I have not committed discrimination
I’ve never been a “hater” of people with same-sex attraction, because the fundamental teaching of the Church tells us that we should fight against sin, and love the sinner. Also, when debating these issues, I never resort to offensive or humiliating discourse, as I am stranger to it, being a Christian.
I did not intend to discriminate against anyone, nor could I have committed discrimination. This was also noted by Dr Slobodan Antonić, full professor at the Belgrade University in his article “There’s No Freedom in Serbia. Just Like in Any Other Colony”:
“Therefore, the facts are as follows: Dr Dimitrijević does not hold any public function that would enable him to discriminate against anyone in the real meaning of this word: to deny someone a right to which such person is entitled; Dr Dimitrijević posted the essay on his own website, which bears his name – “Vladimir Dimitrijević”; Dr Dimitrijević merely stated value judgements, which are of general nature (the phrase “it is only natural” in the given context – since this is not about biology – is not a descriptive, but a value judgement, and does not pertain directly, in the sense of slander as an untrue statement, to any particular individual, or a group); Dr Dimitrijević did not deduce a call for violence or any anti-constitutional action from any of his value judgements; however, Dr Dimitrijević has been accused that his essay, posted on his personal website, has led to discrimination of LGBT persons; Dr Dimitrijević cannot defend himself by, for instance, demanding a concrete proof that his text has resulted in discrimination – e.g.: John Johnson has read Dr Dimitrijević’s essay and then denied such and such right to Jack Jackson; naturally, Dr Dimitrijević is not entitled to the presumption of innocence; on the contrary, the burden of proof is upon him, as the defendant; therefore, in order to defend himself, Dr Dimitrijević must prove that no concrete instance of discrimination has arisen from his essay.”