News
2005-07-23
Latvian court
overturns ban on country's first gay pride parade
A Latvian court
on Friday ordered the Riga city council to allow the
Baltic country's first gay pride parade to proceed S
A Latvian court
on Friday ordered the Riga city council to allow the
Baltic country's first gay pride parade to proceed Saturday,
two days after the council had canceled the event,
citing security concerns. The Riga regional
administrative court overturned a city council decision
Wednesday to cancel the parade, ordering it to immediately
reissue a permit to let organizers stage the event in
the capital's Old City.
Eriks Skapars, the city council's chief
executive, said Wednesday he rescinded the permit over
security concerns after receiving a flood of letters
and e-mails from religious and extremist groups opposed to
the parade and threatening to disrupt it. The move
came hours after Prime Minister Aigars Kalvitis deemed
the event offensive.
Ivars Maurins, the city council's lawyer, said
Friday the council would not have enough time to issue
a new permit by Saturday but that it would allow the
parade to move through the city's Old City regardless. The
parade will include participants from nearby countries,
including Sweden, Russia, Lithuania, Estonia, and
Finland, said the Gay and Lesbian Support Group, which
is organizing the march.
Gays and lesbians in Latvia have been struggling
to find a political voice after having been forced
underground during nearly five decades of Soviet
occupation, which ended in 1991. (AP)
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