A participant of the 2019 Sarajevo Pride March holds a Pride flag in the air. Source: BH. Povorka Ponosa, used with permission. This story by Taylor Whitsell was originally published on Balkan Diskurs, a project of the Post-Conflict Research Center (PCRC). An edited version is republished by Global Voices as part of a content-sharing agreement. In 2019, queer activists in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) organized the country’s first-ever Pride March in Sarajevo. The event received international coverage and was widely acclaimed for its significance. Academic research has even shown that it helped improve public opinion toward queer people among residents of Sarajevo. Yet the fight for equality extends far beyond the coordination of annual, high-visibility pride marches. Not to mention, the state of the world has changed dramatically since 2019, most obviously as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. How have queer people and activists in BiH built upon the momentum of the 2019 Pride March while navigating the newfound challenges caused by the pandemic? Since the 2019 Pride March, queer activists have observed a changing political, legal, and social environment, and have achieved some key successes. In an interview with the author, Dajana Bakić, executive director of the Tuzla Open Centre (TOC), an LGBTQI+ activist organization in BiH, emphasized that Pride constitutes the “most visible tool used to place a spotlight on the issues and needs” of the queer community. This, in turn, helps change public perceptions of queer people and what Pride actually is—a protest for equality, rights, and freedom. Queer activists argue that this form of visibility has placed LGBTQI+ rights more effectively on the public agenda. In an interview with the author, Branko Ćulibrk, member of the Organizing Committee of the BiH Pride March, said: Violence and discrimination issues directed towards the LGBTI community and individuals are more and more often a topic of debate and we have seen an increase in reporting hate crimes. Moreover, from a normative standpoint, the pending Draft Law on Same-sex Partnerships in FB&H has become a hot topic, but also an Action Plan for LGBTQI+ equality at the state level is underway. These are all small steps that lead to a brighter future for this country, for all of us. Bakić adds that activists were “included in different kinds of working group discussions about the laws of freedom of assembly,” allowing them substantive input on the processes of forming these new laws, particularly in the Sarajevo Canton and the Tuzla Canton governments. Pride cannot, in and of itself, generate institutional change, but activists can harness the visibility and public awareness that Pride brings to amplify queer issues, to be taken seriously by political actors, and to be included in reform processes. As Bakić emphasizes, “Lives are not changed by one Pride. We still have the same laws. We still face violence and discrimination. But, the March was a huge step in changing how pride is perceived. Also in the legal framework, things started to move a bit.” These small victories are important but have also been endangered by the pandemic. The aforementioned Draft Law on Same-sex Partnerships has been taken up by an inter-ministerial working group at the Federation of BiH, which was formed in February 2020. This was certainly a positive development. Darko Pandurević of the SOC noted that “the working group is mostly comprised of people who are willing and open to do their job, who approach the assignment professionally, and who do not have preconceived notions or attitudes about the subject. They also saw the Sarajevo Open Centre as a partner in the entire process, which dispelled some initial concerns that the work itself and our involvement in the working group would be a battle with windmills.” But the working group’s progress, already relatively slow, languished throughout the rest of the year. Ultimately, only one meeting was held in 2020. This slow progress has not deterred activists from pursuing the legal path to equality. For instance, Pandurević also highlighted the SOC’s continued use of strategic litigation to advance queer rights through the judicial system. Responding to slow institutional progress through strategic litigation is just one example of how queer activists have navigated challenges to progress in BiH: through creativity and a willingness to adapt. This mindset has been a crucial tool in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.