The European branch of the International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA-Europe)at Riga Pride. Photo by Andy Harley/ukgaynews.org.uk
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Latvia pride finally goes smoothly
The third time’s a charm. Gay pride in Riga, Latvia, finally went smoothly this year on June 3.
In 2005, the first year, 150 marchers were heavily outnumbered by around 1,000 anti-gay protesters who hurled insults, bottles and rotten eggs; blocked the streets; and forced the parade to be rerouted. The protesters chanted ‘No sodomy’ and ‘Gays fuck the nation.’
In 2006, the City Council banned the parade, so organizers held a religious service at a church and meetings at a hotel. The attendees were attacked by Christian, ultranationalist and neo-Nazi protesters who pelted them with eggs, rotten food and feces.
This year, armed with a court ruling that the 2006 ban was unconstitutional, more than 500 GLBT people marched around a fenced-in park under very heavy police protection, dodging only a paint-bomb, an ice-cream cone and a few firecrackers.
City police and riot police outnumbered both the pride marchers and the approximately 100 jeering anti-gay demonstrators. Interior Minister Ivars Godmanis directed the officers’ response from a vantage point on a nearby balcony.
Marchers included Sweden’s migration affairs minister, six Swedish MPs, a Danish MP, a German MP, three members of the European Parliament, scores of Swedish activists, a large multinational contingent from Amnesty International, and gay cops from Britain and Sweden.
‘It is important to remember that social attitudes do not change overnight,’ Linda Freimane of the organizing group, Mozaîka, said before the parade. ‘If we don’t [march] this year then we give in to the illegal, violent forces who can limit other people’s rights just by smothering them.’
Other pride-week events included concerts, movies, presentations and exhibits.
At the same time as the parade, more than 1,000 people attended a ‘World Against Homosexuality’ concert in another part of town. Many attendees signed an anti-gay petition and were rewarded with a T-shirt showing two male stick figures engaging in rear-entry anal sex with the international circle-and-slash ‘no’ symbol superimposed on top of them.
Euro officials denounce Moscow Pride attack
Western European officials have denounced Russia over the May 27 gay pride rally mêlée in which hundreds of police officers watched anti-gay thugs violently beat gay activists, visiting European parliamentarians and other foreign dignitaries. (Story: tinyurl.com/2nkl7p.)
The police then arrested several of the gay people but few of their attackers.
‘I have to denounce the unacceptable violence perpetrated once again by extremists against peaceful demonstrators who participated in a rally for homosexual equality in the Russian capital,’ said openly gay Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoë. ‘In front of police forces obviously reacting in an inappropriate manner, these acts of intolerance and discrimination didn’t spare anybody, including participating MPs from different European countries.’
London Mayor Ken Livingstone wrote to Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov, who had banned a planned pride parade. Luzhkov has called pride parades ‘satanic.’
‘I am writing to convey my deep concern at the reported physical violence against, and arrest of, [leading British gay activist] Peter Tatchell, a Parliamentary candidate for the Green Party in Britain, and other supporters of lesbian and gay rights, during their participation in an event in Moscow seeking to present a petition to you to lift a ban on the Gay Pride parade in Moscow,’ Livingstone said. ‘I would urge you to use your good offices to seek the lifting of all charges against Mr. Tatchell and his fellow demonstrators. I would also urge you to resolve the root cause of this protest by lifting the ban on the Gay Pride parade in Moscow in line with the practice of most cities throughout the world.’
In an official statement, Sweden’s government said: ‘The Swedish government takes very seriously what happened in Moscow May 27th when an unsanctioned demonstration was held to protest against the city’s ban on gay parades. Protesters were… exposed to violence from Russian police and counterprotesters. One of the organizers and several foreign politicians were seized during the tumult. ‘The fact that the demonstration for human rights for LGBT persons did not have a permit should not be taken as a reason to view the participants as fair game,’ says Integration and Equality Minister Nyamko Sabuni…. ‘We expect Russia, as a member in the Council of Europe, to live up to the council’s democratic core principles.”
—Assistance: Bill Kelley