Serbia names gay woman as premier in Balkan first

Belgrade : Serbia's President on Thursday named an openly gay woman as the next prime minister, a milestone move for the deeply conservative country and the wider Balkan region.

Ana Brnabic, 41, will take the premiership less than a year after she entered politics, becoming public administration minister last August.

"I decided to propose Ana Brnabic as prime minister-designate to the parliament of Serbia," President Aleksandar Vucic told reporters.

"I believe that Brnabic has professional and personal qualities to be prime minister... and that along with other ministers she will work on improvement and progress of our Serbia," he added.

Brnabic said serving her country was the "greatest honour". 

"I will work in a devoted and responsible way with great love and honesty," she told public broadcaster RTS.

Brnabic becomes Serbia's first female prime minister and the first openly gay premier in the Balkans, where homophobia remains widespread.

Serbia is home to about seven million people, most of them Orthodox Christians.

But it has been eager to show increased tolerance after coming under pressure to improve protection for minorities, including the LGBT community, since it began talks to join the European Union.

At Belgrade's Gay Pride march in 2010, 150 people were injured as hardline nationalists attacked participants and clashed with police. That led officials to ban the parade for the next three years.

Since then, the annual marches have passed without incident, though they are guarded by an extensive security presence.

In interviews after she became a minister last year, Brnabic expressed the hope that people would look beyond her sexual orientation.

"Why does it matter? I don't know why it matters," she told the regional RTV channel last week.

"What is important is whether someone is capable, professional, hard-working, honest, likes their country and wants to work in its best interest."

She is expected to take office in the next few weeks.