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 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 Eriks Skapars, the city council's chief executive, said Wednesday he rescinded the permit over security concerns after receiving a flood of letters and e-mails from religious and extremist groups opposed to the parade and threatening to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)