Czech gay history exhibit

Minister in charge of human rights and minorities Dzamila Stehlikova (Greens) opened a touring exhibition mapping some 20 years of Czech homosexual movement in the House of Ethnic Minorities in Prague Monday.

The display, to be held until January 21, offers photographs, period documents, covers of gay magazines as well as recordings from the discussion on registered partnership of same-sex couples in the Chamber of Deputies.

After Prague, the exhibition will continue in other Czech towns.

In 1990 only one-tenth of Czechs tolerated homosexuals, while last year it was 70 percent, according to polls.

The exhibition presents the position of homosexuals in the world from the Antiquity to the 19th century. It mainly focuses on the situation in the Czech Lands in the Austro-Hungarian monarchy, the first Czechoslovak Republic (1918-1938), during the Nazi occupation in 1939-1945 and under the communist regime (1948-1989).

The last part of the display describes the period following the collapse of communism in November 1989 when the organised movement for homosexuals' rights started working in the country.

Homosexuality was illegal in Czechoslovakia until 1961.

However, during the communist regime the legal age limit for sex was 18 years for homosexuals, compared to 15 years for heterosexuals. It was unified at 15 years for both only after the Velvet Revolution.

Discrimination on the sexual orientation grounds is banned in the Czech Republic on the basis on the anti-discrimination law.

Last year, Czech parliament passed the law on registered partnership of same-sex couples. Since then 346 couples have entered registered partnership.