Gay Pride March to go ahead, as Court overrules the ban
A Latvian Court has ordered that a ban on Latvia's first LGBT Pride march be lifted.
The ban was put in place at the instigation of Prime Minister Kalvitis, who had earlier issued a statement that he "as head of the government, cannot accept that a parade of sexual minorities takes place in the middle of our capital city next to the cathedral".
His action followed two weeks of homophobic campaigning against a permit for the march issued by the Riga City authorities, and resulted in the withdrawal of this permit on 20 th July. The campaigning was led by the Evangelical Lutheran and Catholic churches, various members of the Latvian Parliament, and several extreme right-wing nationalist organisations.
The full judgement of the Court will be published on 1 st August. However the initial statement by the judge indicated that the Riga City authorities had failed to demonstrate adequate grounds for withdrawing the original permit.
The ban was the fourth attempt by authorities in East Europe this year to prevent Pride marches taking place, but the first initiated by a national government figure. The previous attempts, in Moldova, Romania and Poland, were all instigated by city mayors.
The ban would have been a blatant violation of Latvia's human rights obligations both as a member of the European Union, and under the European Convention on Human Rights.
The march will now go ahead tomorrow, Saturday 23 rd July. But there are concerns for the safety of marchers. Open threats have been made to break up the march and a counter-demonstration by an extreme right-wing nationalist organisation has been authorised.
ILGA-Europe Board Member Deborah Lambillotte (Belgium) commented: "We congratulate the Latvian Gay and Lesbian Youth Support Group for successfully fighting this challenge. It is encouraging that the Latvian court has upheld the rights of the LGBT community in the face of such pressure from the Prime Minister".
Co-chair of the board, Riccardo Gottardi (Italy) added: "Given the way in which the Latvian authorities have given in to homophobic demands, we are concerned for the safety of the marchers, and call on the government to take all measures to protect them".
Notes for editors:
(1) ILGA-Europe is the European Region of the International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA) and world for human rights and equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people at European level.
(2) The outcome of the 3 other attempts to ban gay pride marches in East Europe this year was as follows: Moldova: march prevented, although ban subsequently overturned by a court; Romania: went ahead, with ban withdrawn after pressure on mayor from central government; Poland: went ahead “illegally” in defiance of ban.
For background information, visit www.gay.lv
Media release by Latvian Gay and Lesbian Youth Support Group
First LGBT Pride March in Riga will go ahead as planned - officially!
Today, 22 July 2005 at 14:00, the Riga District Administrative Court delivered its decision to annul the Riga city authorities' ban on the first ever LGBT Pride March in the Latvian capital of Riga.
As we informed just couple of days ago, on 8 July 2005, the Riga city issued the official permission for the March, but on 20 July 2005, following a hysteric homophobic hate campaigned organised by the Latvian churches, various MPs, the First Party and several extremist nationalistic organisations, issued a cancellation document for the March.
The organisers of the first LGBT Pride March, the Gay and Lesbian Youth Support Group, immediately submitted a complaint to the Riga District Administrative Court and today this complaint was satisfied in its entirety. This mean that the first LGBT Pride in Latvia will go ahead in its entirety as planned, including a Pride March through the streets of central Riga.
We salute the decision of the Court and consider it a victory for democracy and reason over prejudice and hate. It is a victory not just for the LGBT community in Latvia, but for the entire Latvia.
Nevertheless, security concerns are still present as various extremist organisations openly expressed their determination to destruct the March and we believe tomorrow will be a serious test for the Latvian police to demonstrate their duty to protect Latvia's citizens and its guests and their right to free and peaceful expression. Some representatives of these groups attended today's court hearing and even managed to express threats to the organisers during the hearing break.
We are delighted that the Latvian court overruled the ban and reminded the Latvian officials, politicians and society, that Latvia is a democracy where all people are equal before the law and deserved the same respect and honour regardless their sexual orientation.
Gay and Lesbian Youth Support Group
