[5] Although religious laws existed prohibiting same-sex love and relationships, expressions were common in both Orthodox Christian and Islamic society.
Karađorđe's Criminal Code (Карађорђев криминални законик) was subsequently promulgated by the Serbian Jurisprudential Council (Praviteljstvujušči sovjet serbski) sometime in late spring or early summer 1807, and remained in force until 7 October 1813, when the Ottoman Empire re-gained control of Serbia.
[10] The Code penalised certain issues related to marital life and sexuality (such as forced marriage, rape, separation/divorce without the approval of a clerical court, and infanticide).
In the first post-Medieval Criminal Code of the Principality of Serbia, named "Kaznitelni zakon" (Law of Penalties), adopted in 1860, sexual intercourse "against the order of nature" between males became punishable by 6 months to 4 years imprisonment.
[15] At the end under common sense he concluded that "from such vices suffer proletarians, and not only bourgeois decadent" but that he can not have functions or be party member.
[15] The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia later restricted the offence in 1959 to only apply to homosexual anal intercourse; but with the maximum sentence reduced from 2 to 1 year imprisonment.
[18] In 2008, the Serbian Medical Society determined that being LGBT was not a disease, being a member of the " World Health Organization", deferring from its opinions.
[citation needed] Boris Melicevic was an openly gay leader for Serbia who became a part of a political party in December 2010.
[17] In May 2014, Amnesty International identified Serbia as one of a number of countries where there is a marked lack of will to tackle homophobia and transphobia, noting that public authorities had repeatedly banned pride marches on the basis of violent threats from homophobic groups.
[25] In June 2017, Ana Brnabić became the Prime Minister of Serbia, as the first woman and first openly gay person to hold the office, and the second female LGBT head of government overall (after Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir of Iceland).