Šimon, three years later

27 Jun 2025 - by Kajetan Phan Quoc

This year, as a volunteer at the Anne Frank House, I first learned about the Stories that Move project. One personal story that immediately stood out to me, was the story of Šimon from Slovakia, as we both have Vietnamese roots. In connection to pride month, I recently reached out for a talk with Šimon, about how life has changed for the queer community in his country since we had last spoken to him and how he experiences the changes.

Being Queer and Vietnamese in Slovakia

In 2022 Šimon first shared his story with us, talking about his Slovak Vietnamese identity and not conforming to his expected male role. He also shared how difficult it was for him to accept his queer identity. You can see these videos here:

LGBTQ+ life in Slovakia

“Queer activities are not as frequent as they used to be”, Šimon tells me, while we are talking about the situation in Slovakia, which now has one of the most repressive anti-LGBTQ+ policies in Europe. He laments, how queer ball-culture, which he loved partaking in, has subsided. Many of his friends who used to organize events like these stopped doing so, since the new minister of culture assumed office in 2023.

“People are often not publicly queer anymore. I would normally know when pride month is, people would share it on social media. This year I didn’t see anything”, he notes, while admitting that he has also become more careful with whom he shares his sexuality, trying to avoid uncomfortable conversations.

Conversations which he first started having after officially coming out in a Facebook post commemorating his gay friend who was murdered in an attack on a Bratislava queer bar in 2022. And while he does understand people being afraid of the pace with which things are changing in the world, he asks them to understand that most queer people are just regular individuals who happen to have a different sexuality, not trying to make a fuss about it: people just trying to live a peaceful life like everyone else.

Šimon’s conversational approach

Šimon also tells me about how he deliberately keeps people opposed to LGBTQ+ emancipation in his social circle, explaining that it is impossible to convince people if you cannot even talk to them in a friendly way. “In everything that I’m doing, I’m trying to apply the same philosophy, which is being open minded.” Many people around him have now become more understanding and accepting, he assures me.

A prime example of this, he considers his father, who initially was very shocked and considered his son’s homosexuality a failure of his parenting, which led Šimon to doubt himself and be ashamed of having disappointed his parents. Later when he found out that his father felt the same way towards his own parents this helped Šimon to bridge the emotional gap between them.

A look into the future

But as the political climate in Slovakia has become increasingly hostile towards the queer minority, Šimon doesn’t express much hope. “Some of us will completely adapt. Some will fight against this injustice. And many of us will run away to somewhere where they feel safer. I would say that would even be my case if I really feel threatened. I would just leave. Run away.”

Kajetan joined the Anne Frank House through the Verein Gedenkdienst