Lesbians, gays and bisexuals in Croatia: how the stigma shapes lives?

The goal of this paper was to examine to what extent can Goffman's concepts of stigma and methods of stigma management (Goffman 1963) be applied to sexual minorities, and to what extent are lesbians, gays and bisexual persons in Croatia stigmatized and how they manage stigma in their everyday lives. The survey was conducted at the end of 2005. Participants in this study were 202 lesbian, gay and bisexual persons from three Croatian cities: Zagreb, Rijeka and Osijek aging from 15 to 60 years. Information gathered dealt with participants' self-perception of visibility as homosexuals or bisexuals, the strategies of managing information about their sexual orientation, and about violence that LGB people face because of their sexual orientation. Results have shown that Goffman’ s concept of stigma and stigma management can be applied to the LGB community in Croatia even some forty years after the model of stigma management was formulated. Respondents - members of the LGB community are aware that they could become victims of discrimination or violence. A significant number of them avoided talking about their private life or did not kiss or hold hands with their same-sex partners in public because of concerns that they could experience unease, discrimination or violence due to an open manifestation of their sexual orientation. Also, over 50% of the respondents experienced some type of violence due to their sexual orientation. It was concluded that damaging consequences of the stigmatization of sexual minorities are present in Croatian society