AFP: Gays hold heavily policed 'pride' event in Latvia
RIGA (AFP) - Several hundred gays and lesbians, some from Latvia and many from abroad, on Sunday staged the third Gay Pride rally in the Baltic state under tight security aimed at preventing protests that marred previous events.
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The participants and their supporters marched through a park in the capital Riga which had been sealed off, under the watchful eyes of hundreds of police officers.
The marchers went around in circles inside Vermanes Park, with hundreds of curious people and anti-gay protesters watching on from across the fence.
"Gay Pride is taking its first baby steps here," 23-year-old Lisa from Sweden told AFP.
"In my country its more like a carnival with thousands of people taking part and only a few looking on. Here, you can see it's still political."
Some of the onlookers heckled participants, but no serious incidents were reported during the four-hour event.
The marchers brandished placards proclaiming: "Love is a human right," "Equality is a human right," and "No to hatred, we love Latvia."
A drag queen from Riga, a member of Latvia's ethnic Russian minority, said "many people in Latvia, which only recently emerged from the Soviet Union, don't know what 'gay' is. They confuse it with paedophilia."
The young man was among very few in the pride march who were from Latvia. "The long years of communism have left their mark. It wasn't so easy in Ireland either, until just a short time ago," Sean, a gay man originally from Ireland but now resident in Britain, told AFP.
An activist from Amnesty International UK who identified herself only as Anna, said the huge police presence was "a bit over the top."
"The authorities must be frightened that something will go wrong. It's in their best interest that nothing should go wrong," she told AFP.
The two previous gay rights marches in Latvia were marred by violence and rowdy protests.
Last year, hundreds of anti-gay protesters blockaded supporters of Latvia's sexual minorities, including Dutch European lawmaker Sophie Int'Veld, inside a church in central Riga and pelted them with excrement as they left.
Later the same day, around 200 anti-gay protesters shouted abuse and threw eggs at people entering or leaving the Reval Hotel in Riga, where an alternative event was being held after the authorities banned the gay pride parade.
The 2005 Gay Pride, the first to be held in the Baltic state, was also marred by violence and verbal abuse.
Juris Calitis, a pastor who was kicked out of the Lutheran Church for backing homosexuality, said he was hopeful that Latvians' attitudes towards sexual minorities were changing.
"It's a slow process but I can see people changing. Last year the protests were very organised... Next year, I hope there will be no fences. We don't need fences in our society," Calitis said.
Int'Veld was present again at this year's gay pride parade.
"Gay rights are human rights," she said in a speech at the venue.
"The EU is more than just an economic union; we also share the European values of democracy, freedom and human rights. These values are laid down in our treaties and apply to every member state."
As Sunday's gay pride event unfolded at the park, around 1,000 anti-gay activists gathered on the banks of the Daugava River for a "World Against Homosexuality" concert.
The organisers of the concert gathered signatures for a petition against the spread of homosexuality.
Each person who added his or her name to the petition received a free T-shirt with a homophobic slogan.
