Interviewed by Robyn Ochs
Dajana Bakić was born in Tuzla in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BIH) in 1986. She earned her degree in pedagogy and psychology at the University of Tuzla. Dajana has been a long-time activist, playing a significant role and making notable contributions to the work of the Alliance of Anti-Fascists and Fighters of the National Liberation War, the Youth Movement “Revolt,” and the Folklore Ensemble “Panonija.” Additionally, she has volunteered for many years as the executive director of the Tuzla Open Center. Dajana was elected as a city councilor in 2012. In her term, she has been actively involved in programs for the development of entrepreneurship, agricultural production, and environmental protection. She is also a strong advocate for human rights and supports youth, civil society organizations, culture, and media.
Currently, Dajana works at Sarajevo Open Center (SOC), a human rights organization that initiates and creates systemic social changes, emphasizing gender equality and the position of LGBTI persons. She joined the team at the beginning of 2021 and took on the role of program coordinator for the Initiative for Monitoring the EU Integration of BIH, as well as coordinating the “BIH Civil Society for UPR” informal initiative, which monitors the implementation of the Universal Periodic Review recommendations on the state of human rights in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In December 2021, she became the Operations Manager of the whole SOC team.
She is also the newly elected President of Rainbow Rose, following one year as Vice President and two years as a board member. She was one of the founding committee members for Bosnia and Herzegovina Pride, holding their first pride march in the capital, Sarajevo, in 2019. She is an active member of the Social Democratic Party of BIH.
Robyn: Dajana, please tell us a bit about yourself.
Dajana: I like to say I’m a true millennial, born in Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina, in 1986. I was very lucky to grow up in a community with a rich history of antifascist and worker movements, which greatly influenced my upbringing and education. My family is from Tuzla, and I am very proud of my heritage.
I love people and thrive on supporting them and standing in solidarity with them. I enjoy being around individuals who challenge me in many ways and who are rather active in their own lives. Although COVID has definitely had an impact, I remain a very active person at heart.
I studied psychology and pedagogy in Tuzla, and I have a keen interest in the psychology of work. I’m grateful to be working in a field I love. I gained a lot of knowledge through non-formal learning—seminars, research, understanding legalities, history, networking, and all things “different.” It has been very influential in my evolution and growth, maybe even more so than my formal studies. I actually started my activism journey because I was revolted by the education system in my hometown.
Structure and work are central to my identity. I’m an activist and politician, and much of my life has been shaped by my experiences in these roles. For the past three and a half years, I’ve lived in Sarajevo and worked at Sarajevo Open Center, a human rights organization in the heart of BIH advocating for LGBTI human rights and gender equality. Currently, I work in a management position focused on organizational operations and development as well as human potential.
Robyn: How did you come to your bisexual identity?
Dajana: I realized my bisexual identity when I fell in love with a woman at 18. I had previous experiences with women but hadn’t thought much about it until that point. Those experiences helped me resolve my internal issues through a hidden process, so when I fell in love, it became fairly clear to me who I was. It’s important to me politically to identify as a bi woman because we face discrimination even within the queer community.
Robyn: Do you sometimes feel lonely as a bi person in your place of work?
Dajana: There are other bi persons in my work environments, but there’s no formal connection in relation to our shared identities. Sometimes I do feel alone in my efforts to put our bi issues and perspectives on the agenda. Maybe it’s because there isn’t an organized structure or initiative that connects us based specifically on our bi identity. I have the space and resources to create a bi group, but I need to find the time. That’s where I feel alone—so far no one showed interest in the same. I think it would be beneficial to share experiences based on our identity. Leaders are often lonely, as they say.
Robyn: Please tell us more about your political involvement.
Dajana: I’m a member of the Social Democratic Party of BIH. Next year I’ll be celebrating 20 years of membership. I wanted to directly influence decisions because I saw many problems on a local level that needed to be dealt with and felt the need to do more. I wanted to work at the grassroots level and create policies that would benefit my local community, which is why I joined politics and the party. My hands-on approach in Tuzla gained me the trust of other party members and the locals, leading to my election as a local councilor of Tuzla from 2012 to 2016.
With only a few women in the council, I felt I had a responsibility to view everything through a gender lens. This led me to focus more on human rights in my political life. Although making anything related to the LGBTI community mainstream in Bosnia and the party is difficult, I jumped that hurdle and found a way to push for changes by joining Rainbow Rose, the pan-European LGBTI network of the Party of the Socialists, where I’m currently president.
My only elected position was as a local councilor, but I continued working within the party and advising in different positions. However, the system’s corruption became very challenging and frustrating for me. My principles and values are non-negotiable, and I wouldn’t compromise them for personal gain, leading me to step away from BIH politics. I still consider myself a politician, though.
Robyn: What’s the legal status of LGBTI persons in your country?
Dajana: In the last five to ten years, we’ve made improvements in the legal framework, with advanced laws that protect against discrimination based on gender identity, sexual orientation, and sex characteristics. Bosnia is the only country in the region to specify sex characteristics within the law, which inherently protects transgender and intersex people. We have fought for the establishment of a gender equality law and change of criminal laws, though there’s still work to be done.
We’ve been advocating for same-sex partnership laws, but no changes have been made on that front. Our annual Pride March has been happening since 2019, and while we voice our demands towards the government every year, the freedom of assembly remains a challenge. Police and government have many demands for Pride organizers, requiring us to pay for additional security measures, unlike the full police protection provided to hooligans before frequent football matches.
Last year, Pride organizers were attacked in Banja Luka, a city in northwestern Bosnia, incited by hate speech from the mayor of that city and the president of the Republic of Srpska—the political establishment closely aligned with Hungary’s Viktor Orban and Russia’s Vladimir Putin. This has worsened the situation for the community in Banja Luka; the space to act for civil society organizations (CSO) is shrinking, and there’s a lot of fear in the community. Quality of life is poor, especially outside urban centers like Tuzla and Sarajevo, where queer and activist events can be attended fairly safely.
While the legal framework has improved, implementation is lacking. Reporting crimes often leads to further discrimination by the police or institutions responsible for enforcing these laws. The overall situation is particularly challenging for the trans community, as we advocate for trans-inclusive medical care and legal recognition of gender. We are also witnessing the anti-gender movement slowly infiltrating Bosnia. We’re organizing to protect our achievements and ensure we don’t regress.
Discrimination and violence, especially domestic violence when people come out to their families, are rampant. We recently established a safe house for LGBTI people in Sarajevo, the first in BIH, started by our partner organization—Krila Nade—which provides psychological support to the queer community.
Daily life for queer people is challenging, and public displays of affection are risky. There are some queer-friendly spaces in urban areas, but the overall environment is very conservative. Many people from rural areas move to bigger cities, and some even leave the country for better freedom and anonymity. Media is slowly changing, with some independent channels reporting queer-related news properly. This change is driven by CSOs working to educate lawyers, police, judiciary, and other CSOs, improving how the wider community perceives the queer community. Progress is slow, but it’s happening. Visibility and engagement are crucial for change.
Robyn: That seems to be the global sentiment. People move to bigger cities for safety and anonymity. Knowing someone personally who is queer, visibility, and representation fundamentally change understanding and increase acceptance. What impact has working transnationally had on your perspective and work?
Dajana: Transnational connections, especially with individuals and parties from European Union countries, are invaluable. They allow us to use the authority of EU countries and parties to create pressure and initiate changes with more power than working alone. For instance, when same-sex partnership laws were being voted on in Montenegro and marriage equality in Greece, we leveraged our connection with the Party of European Socialists network to pressure members of Parliament to vote in favor for our joint cause.
International support and community are crucial. This connection also provides a sense of belonging and community. We attend many Prides across Europe, especially smaller, non-commercial ones in challenging environments like Poland, Bulgaria, and Bosnia, to amplify those voices. Working with other parties on common actions sets an example for local communities.
Robyn: What is it like to be a bi woman in advocacy work?
Dajana: In Bosnia, we’re still advocating for basic human rights for the entire community, so there’s no special focus on any one letter in the acronym. There is slightly more focus on nonbinary and trans people due to specific issues related to the outrageous violence, discrimination, and health issues that the community deals with.
When I worked as a field researcher, I was surprised by just how many people in our community identify as bisexual. This reinforces the fact that our bi community is often erased and invisible. I feel like I have to do more for our bi community but the sad reality is—in BIH, we’re still fighting for basic human rights of queer people.
Robyn: How do you take care of yourself, and how do you make your work sustainable?
Dajana: I love overworking myself, not just with my actual job but with all activities, projects, and initiatives I can include myself in. Especially back in my hometown, I was all over the place. I see myself as a person of change, and I like to be part of such activities. I learned about boundaries only a couple of years ago. It wasn’t in my vocabulary before. I’ve been through many burnouts, but I couldn’t describe it. I say I’m constantly burning—the flame is just smaller or larger at any given time.
I’m still learning how to rest, take care of myself, and tell myself that resting is resistance. It’s a process of learning and unlearning. I try to find different activities I like to do just for myself—swimming, going to theater shows, and seeing friends in my hometown. I love art, and I love to travel. With Rainbow Rose, I get to work, travel, and meet people from different cultures who inspire and motivate me.
Robyn: It’s the best—you get to spend time with people who share your values, and you get to learn from them. Sometimes you feel alone, and then you see the energy that other people in the world are investing in this community and it makes you realize that this work we do is global. It’s exciting and motivating.
Dajana: Every decision I make in life comes from the values and principles that form my core. I am led by them. Sharing a space or creating something with people who share those values is very motivating.
Robyn: Do you feel welcomed, accepted, and taken seriously as a bi woman?
Dajana: Yes, I do. However, in a general sense, we have to constantly remind people we, the bi community, exist. There’s not enough attention, and there is some kind of ignorance about the specificities that come with the letter B. The initiative around bi people and their issues are being made visible by bi people. Others don’t consider our perspective, unfortunately.
Robyn: How did you come to read Bi Women Quarterly?
Dajana: I was introduced to it by Hilde Vossen who is one of the initiators of a European bi+ network, at Oslo Pride in 2018 or 2019 when I was just preparing for the first historical BIH Pride March. She gave me a physical copy of BWQ after our conversation about our bi identities, and I loved it.
Robyn: I’m very excited to include your voice in this publication, and I’m excited that you and Lejla–who is interning for BWQ–are representing Southeast Europe, which has had lower representation in our publication. My goal is for people from all countries to be able to go to Bi Women Quarterly and see people from their country represented there.
Dajana: Thank you, Robyn, for your work. I’m very proud of Lejla. I call the younger activists that I’ve mentored “my kids,” as I see myself as part of their activist journey and education.
Robyn: On that note—the theme of this issue is “Child Free.” Would you like to say anything about this?
Dajana: I don’t have children and I never had a sense of wanting children. I did wonder what kind of parent I would be, but you shouldn’t have kids as an experiment. I wouldn’t call it selfish, but I do not want to give away my freedom and possibilities to explore the world the way I want. Raising a person in this socioeconomic system and general environment of this country is nearly impossible—I just don’t have the support for that. But, I don’t want kids and want to be free and responsible only for myself, enjoying life and exploring it by focusing on me. I wouldn’t say I chose not to have kids to be able to work. I think I could manage my obligations with or without kids, but I just don’t want them. I’m happy to have contributed to this BWQ issue. In fact, for many people, this interview might be my coming out.
This interview was organized and transcribed by Lejla Delalić, who is an intern at BWQ.
Postcript from Lejla: I’ve been mentored by Dajana while volunteering for Tuzla Open Center in BIH, and she has been an incredible role model for me, especially during my formative years as a young woman. Seeing and learning from an intelligent, strong bisexual woman fighting so confidently and bravely for human rights in a hostile environment made me the person I am today. I am incredibly grateful to Dajana for being in my life, her lessons, advice, and introduction to Bi Women Quarterly.
Robyn Ochs is Editor of Bi Women Quarterly and a global speaker.