Delve into our Portraits of Queer Youth in Montenegro

Published ahead of the IGLYO AMC Podgorica 2023, our Portraits of Queer Youth in Montenegro​ article series gives first-hand insights into the status quo of queer youth activism in Montenegro through the inspiring stories of Nikola Ilić (he/him, 23 years old) and Marija Jovanović (she/her, 26 years old) from IGLYO Member Spektra, and Enes Pucurica (he/him, 28 years old) from IGLYO Member Queer Montenegro.

Nikola Ilić (he/him), 23, Spektra

"When invited to introduce himself, Nikola smiles. Every time this question comes up, his answer is never the same, purely and simply because he is learning something new about himself every day. On this day, Nikola introduces himself as "someone who is trying to be free while helping others do the same, who loves sports, who dreams to see revolution happen in his lifetime, and who believes in the power of change in any kind of context." At the age of 23, Nikola is not only a proud trans activist, he is also one of the most visible trans people in [...]" Read Nikola's full portrait​.

Enes Pucurica (he/him), 28, Queer Montenegro

"The sense of community; this is what matters most to Enes Pucurica. To this 28-year-old queer activist with a background in architecture and language education, and a passion for writing poetry, languages, and psychology, everything will always work out as long as we come together as a community, even if we do not always agree on everything. And this is essentially what Enes has always strived to do through his activism over the years: Contributing to building a close-knit community for marginalised identities in [...]" Read Enes' full portrait​.

Marija Jovanović (she/her), 26, Spektra

"Marija's friends like to call her "the queen of hobbies". Tattooing, nail art, sewing, DIY crafts, reading, taking pictures, recording video journals, watching TV shows, looking for new music; the list goes on and grows every day. These are all the exciting things you'll find Marija doing when she's not busy making things right for our queer siblings in Montenegro. Because on top of being the queen of hobbies, Marija is also a powerful young queer activist, and one of the founders of one of Montenegro's biggest queer organisations. [...]" Read Marija's full portrait​.