Ludviks and the coalition, which is made up of Latvia’s largest Christian denominations, has written to Riga Mayor Jānis Birks and the city’s executive director, Andris Grīnbergs, asking them to ban the “Baltic Pride” gay and lesbian march planned for May 16 of this year in Riga.

“We respect the right of every individual to private life and the right to freely choose his or her own sexual orientation, but we categorically object to the public propaganda of an amoral and unnatural lifestyle – that which is the essence of ‘Baltic Pride.’

This lifestyle is in violation of the family values that have traditionally existed in Latvia and the fact that marriage is a union between a man and a woman, as recorded in the Constitution of the Republic of Latvia,” the letter says.
The Coalition of Congregations says that propaganda of the homosexual lifestyle denigrates the family values that are the foundation for any nation’s growth and sustainable development. It says that popularising such a lifestyle is also in violation of Christian values that are important to a very large share of the people of Latvia, because the Bible clearly states that homosexuality is a sin, and sin degrades the individual. The natural order of things ensures the healthy development of an individual which, in turn, is the foundation for the development of a stable society – one that is able to take responsibility for its future.

“Thus we, as a part of society, believe that the Riga City Council must express a strict position on this issue so that the rights of one minority are not positioned above the values of the majority, rights and interests of the larger share of society, particularly given the influence which this has on adolescents and children,” say the authors of the letter.

The letter has been signed by official representatives of the Latvian Roman Catholic Church, the Latvian Evangelical Lutheran Church, the Latvian Union of Baptist Congregations, the “Word of Truth” the Centre of Latvian Whitsuntide Congregations, the Latvian Evangelical Alliance, the Latvian Alliance of Congregations of Seventh-Day Adventists, the “Source of Life” Whitsuntide Congregation of Riga, the “Message of Joy” Christian congregation, the “New Generation” evangelical Christian Church, Latvian Christian Radio, a representative of the governing coalition in the Riga City Council who is a member of the Department of Education, Youth and Sports, and three members of the Riga City Council. A separate letter to the leadership of the Riga City Council was submitted by a representative of the Latvian Orthodox Church.

The Coalition of Christian Congregations was established at the beginning of this year, and its goal is to consolidate the people of Riga and to provide all-encompassing and fully valid solutions to various problems faced by the Riga City Council’s structures and institutions, doing so on the basis of Christian values and issues related to ethics, morality, the raising up of family values in the development of society, the raising of children, and the identification and prevention of any factors which have a negative or degrading effect on these goals.