Czechia

Overview

Czech law bans discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Despite the fact that the Czech Republic has recognized registered partnership since 2006, full equality for same-sex couples is not legalised. According to the Pew Research Center survey conducted 2015-2017 in 34 countries showed that 65% of Czechs favour and only 29% oppose same-sex marriage.

• A comprehensive history on LGBT Rights in the Czech Republic going back to the pre-Communist era on Wikiwand [in English].
• An overview of rights and legal acts by ILGA Europe [in English].

• Country ranking by ILGA Europe [in English].

Academic and professional institutions

• Gender Studies Department, Faculty of Humanities Charles University
• Centre for Gender Studies was opened at the Philosophical Faculty, Charles University in 1998. In 2003, it moved to the Faculty of Humanities as an independent Department of Gender Studies. Among the areas of research covered by the department are:
  • Feminism a GLBTQ activism - mutual influences, relations and interactions,
  • Gay Fatherhood, Gay and Lesbian Parenthood
  • Narratives of Sexual Identity Heteronormativity and homophobia in Czech society
  • Gay and lesbian oral history
• Sociology Department, Faculty of Social Studies, Masaryk University
• Queer Geography - a professional think-tank of experts, scientific, pedagogical and professional staff, as well as other people interested in interdisciplinary understanding and study of human sexuality (sexualities), gender identity (identities) and issues related to them.

Resources

Books

• Adam, B., Duyvendak, J. W., Krouwel, A., & Krouwel, A. (2009). Global Emergence Of Gay & Lesbian Politics. Philadelphia : Temple University Press.
• Antonova, B. (2014). Queer Prague, A Guide to the LGBT history of the Czech Capital 1380 – 2000. Brno: Černé pole.
• Fejes, N., & Balogh, A. (2012). Queer visibility in post-socialist cultures. Bristol: Intellect books.
• Havelková H. & Oates-Indruchová L. (2014). The politics of gender culture under state socialism: an expropriated voice. London: Routledge.
• ​Himl, P., Seidl, J., & Schindler, F. (2013). "Miluji tvory svého pohlaví" : Homosexualita v dějinách a společnosti českých zemí. Praha : Argo.
• Lišková, K. (2018). Sexual liberation, socialist style: Communist Czechoslovakia and the science of desire, 1945-1989. New York: Cambridge University Press.
• Mazierska, E. (2008). Masculinities in Polish, Czech and Slovak Cinema: Black Peters and men of marble. New York: Berghahn books.
• Mole, R.C.M. (2021). Queer Migration and Asylum in Europe. London: UCL Press.
• Putna, M. (2012). Krest'anství a homosexualita: Pokusy o integraci. Praha: Torst.
• Putna, M. (2011). Homosexualita v dějinách české kultury. Praha : Academia.
• O'Dwyer, C. (2018). Coming out of communism: The emergence of LGBT activism in Eastern Europe.  New York: New York University.
• Seidl, J. (2012). Od žaláře k oltáři : Emancipace homosexuality v českých zemích od roku 1867 do současnosti. Brno: Host.
• Sokolova, V. (2021). Queer Encounters with Communist Power: Non-Heterosexual Lives and the State in Czechoslovakia, 1948-1989. Prague: Karolinum Press.
• Tamagne, F. (2006). A History of Homosexuality in Europe: Berlin, London, Paris 1919 – 1939. New York: Algora.
• Thomas, A. (2007). The Bohemian Body: Gender and Sexuality in Modern Czech Culture. University of Wisconsin Press. 
• Vērdiņš, K. & Ozolinš, J. (2016). Queer Stories of Europe. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

Periodicals

• Gender a výzkum/Gender and Research  is a peer-reviewed transdisciplinary journal of gender studies and feminist theory. The territorial focus is on Central and Eastern Europe as well as other global macro-regions. The journal publishes articles in Czech or English in the fields of sociology, philosophy, political science, history, cultural studies, and other branches of the social sciences and humanities [in Czech and English].

Repositories

• Charles University repository for academic papers on LGBTQ studies [in Czech].
• Digital Library of the Czech Academy of Sciences [in Czech].
• Faculty of Humanities repository [in Czech].
• Masaryk University repository [in Czech].
• National Library of the Czech Republic: Digital Library - digitised monographs and periodicals from the collections of the Czech National Library [in Czech and English].

Data and statistics

• Czech Republic hate crime data by OSCE ODIHR [in English].
• European LGBT Survey, 2012. FRA Europe [in English].
• State-Sponsored Homophobia report - latest edition, includes maps and dataset, ILGA Europe - a world survey of sexual orientation laws + older editions [in English].

Reports

• Analysis of the Situation of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Minority in the Czech Republic. The Office of the Government of the Czech Republic, Prague, 2007 [report in English], [report in Czech].
• Annual Review of the Human Rights Situation of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex People covering events that occurred between January-December 2020. ILGA Europe [in English].
• ECRI - Country monitoring in Czech Republic. Reports, 1997 - 2020 [in English].
• Meeting the challenge of accession Surveys on sexual orientation discrimination in countries joining the European Union. ILGA Europe Policy Paper, April 2004 [English].
• Obavy a přání trans lidí v ČR. Transparent, 2018 (šest zpráv z výzkumu na téma obav a přání trans lidí, které byly zpracovány na základě dat sebraných v období od 7. 7. do 11. 9. 2018) [in Czech].
• Postoje veřejnosti k právům homosexuálů. Centrum pro výzkum veřejného mínění, Sociologický ústav AV ČR, v.v.i.n [in Czech].
• Report on implementation by the Czech Republic of the Recommendation CM/Rec(2010)5of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on measures to combat discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation or gender identity. Platform for equality, recognition and diversity (PROUD), Prague, the Czech Republic, 2012 [in English].
• Together! Project. National Report on Hate Crimes monitoring (Czech Republic). Organisation for Aid to Refugees, 2016 [in English].

News portals

• 004.cz - community news portal [in Czech].
• Artalk.cz - contemporary art portal [in Czech].

Audio-visual

• Kvér  [in Czech].
• LeGaTo [in Czech].
• Magazin Q  [in Czech].
• Browse DAFilms documentaries - DAFilms.com is powered by Doc Alliance, a creative partnership of 7 key European documentary film festivals [in English].

Digital libraries and archives

• Czechoslovak periodicals digitised by the Centre for Queer Memory in Prague [in Czech].
• Gay samizdat: Online collection of unpublished literary works created and disseminated among Prague gay community between 1960 - 1989 [in Czech].
• Interviews – only available in the Centre for Queer Memory [in Czech].
• Queer Memory: Loading: Love - an exhibition about the past of gay community in the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia [in English].
• Web archive of SOHO and Gay Initiative (GI) in the Czech Republic [in Czech].

Organisations

• Gales - A Prague gay and lesbian university association organizing regular events [in Czech].
• Charlie - A students’ association of Charles University [in Czech and English].
• eLnadruhou - An association organizing an eponymous cultural festival for women regardless of their sexual orientation [in Czech, Polish, English].
• Logos - An ecumenical Christian association of gays and lesbians [in Czech].
• M-klub Lambda Praha - An association of gays [in Czech].
• Společnost pro queer paměť - Association for Queer Memory [in Czech].
• Stejná rodina - An association whose goal is to achieve legal equality between homosexual and heterosexual families. Facebook page [in Czech].
• STUD - An association of gays, lesbians, and friends, co-organizes Mezipatra Queer Film Festival, runs Queer Library etc. [in Czech and English].
• Trans*parent - organisation for transgender a genderqueer people [in Czech and English].
• TransFusion - trans advocacy and education organisation [in Czech].

Other resources

• GaTe – Since 2003 we have been organizing regular meetings, few days' experiential events, sports, cultural, or social events for young gays during their coming-out period. By organizing debates at secondary schools, we are also involved in the development of public education and community life [in Czech].
• Mezipatra Queer Film Festival – A festival of films with gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender topics that we held annually since 2000 in Prague and Brno [in Czech and English].
• Minorities - Free law center for minorities [in Czech].
• Prague Pride - An association supporting LGBT rights and organizing an annual pride festival [in Czech and English].
• QueerLab – This project’s aim is to provide a space for social and cultural activities outside the heteronormative social framework. Through our ideas, we would like to allow non-heterosexual people present themselves in a representative and respectful manner [in English].
• Queer Library – Unique and only one in the Czech Republic, it contains over 500 Czech or English books, dozens of scientific publications, and hundreds of magazines, all concerned with LGBT community in the Czech Republic and around the world [in Czech and English].
• Queer map of Brno (in progress) – A tourist map of downtown Brno and its surroundings marked with points of interest important for people from both within and outside of LGBT community [in Czech and English].
• Studividlo – A friendly association of amateur actors who enjoy acting, have a tendency for theatrical behavior (and are not ashamed to admit it!), and have a good sense of humor and fun [in Czech].