Mozaika media release for Friendship Days "Different families, same love"
The theme of the Friendship Days from 30 May until 1 June 2008 is "Different families, same love".
Riga, 28 May, 2008. This year the Friendship Days will take place from 30 May until 1 June, 2008. The March for Equality will take place on Saturday, May 31, starting from 10 am on the riverbank of November 11. During the meeting which will take place after the march, representatives of various organizations, both from Latvia and abroad, will address the participants. The route of the march has been coordinated with the police.
On Friday, May 30, the Friendship Days will begin with a political discussion on the theme of diversity and competitiveness which will emphasize the advantages derived from a tolerant and open attitude towards all residents of the state.
On Friday night, there will be a premiere of the documentary film "The Marching Season" at the cinema "K-Suns".
"We continue to organize the Friendship Days every year, because we consider that the question about how lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transpersons (LGBT) feel in Latvia continues to be relevant and has not been sufficiently addressed", says the Chairperson of the Board of "Mozaika", Linda Freimane.
She emphasizes that the events organized within the framework of Friendship Days aim to break stereotypes about LGBT persons and invite people to critically evaluate their assumptions about LGBT persons and the activities of LGBT organizations. In turn, the March for Equality is a political manifestation which aims to simultaneously bring attention to the presence of LGBT persons in Latvian society and to point to the continued marginalization of this group. At the same time, the March provides the possibility for LGBT persons to express their identity and not be ashamed of it. In Latvia, the majority of LGBT persons still hide their orientation, thus not being able to live full lives and often experiencing extreme loneliness and exclusion.
Kristīne Garina, Member of the Board of "Mozaika" and organizer of the Friendship Days, says that "We are often criticized on the grounds that the March is a show-off and that by organizing it we ourselves provoke hatred. But it must be understood that the March does not create hateful attitudes. It only brings into focus a problem that exists in the Latvian society - the inability to accept diversity. Many people in Latvia are afraid of anything that is not white, heterosexual, Christian, does not speak Latvian, and does not correspond to the average standard of society. If you are different, you risk becoming an object of hate. It is unacceptable that we put up with hatred. With the help of Friendship Days and the March, we want to show that diversity can enrich and strengthen any society."
