Commentary
By Kārlis Streips

RIGA, March 30  –  Once again we can prove to ourselves that religious extremists do not live in our world, they live in some parallel world which they alone are aware of.  It has been reported that the noisy structure known as “New Generation” invited an American called Kenneth Hutcherson to visit.

Hutcherson presented himself very grandly:  “I am here as a representative of the White House,” he said at a New Generation Event.

Readers will know that the White House is the residence of the President of the United States or, in a broader sense, the headquarters for the presidential administration.

The guest’s claims suggest that he came here almost with the blessing of US President George Bush to study “Latvia’s reaction to anti-Christian activities”.

Oh, no. Hutcherson claimed to represent the President’s Office of Faith-Based Community Initiatives, but it flatly denied that he had even the slightest right to represent the White House.

“A misunderstanding” is what a New Generation spokesman had to say about this. I doubt it.

Hutcherson was accompanied by a person called Scott Lively who is “best” known for a book in which he claims that Nazism was invited by (you may guess three times) – yes, by gays.

This merry couple, as the New Generation representative explained, was invited here “as human rights activists”. 

That is where the parallel world exists, you see.

In America, as in Latvia, there are people for whom the most, most, MOST important thing on the entire, entire, ENTIRE public agenda is human sexuality.

Not anything like poverty, taxes, environmental protection, the war in Iraq – no, the most important thing is gay people or, more precisely, the fight against them.

If anyone dares object to this fight, he is immediately denounced as someone who is “violating the human rights of Christians”.

Similarly, the Ku Klux Klan used to speak about the “human rights” of white people. This is the same claim that is made in our country by quasi-fascist and tiny organisations which claim to represent the “Latvian people” and all that is moral.

These are human rights activists?

Even crazier, albeit not a bit more surprising, is that the noble chairman of the Saeima Human Rights Commission, Janis Smits, lives in the same world.

He, you see, received Kenneth Hutcherson as a “US law enforcement official” who was worried about “discrimination against Christians in Latvia”

To be sure, a battling homophobe can only be chairman of a parliamentary human rights commission in a parallel world, and so the thoughts of this child of God are not surprising, but they are pitiful nonetheless.

The homepage of the US Embassy says nothing about this false prophet, but it has been reported that upon returning to America, he may face legal problems, because lying about representing the White House – that might be a crime in the United States.

That is how far the residents of this parallel world are prepared to go.  They lie shamelessly, they devalue human rights to the minimum – apparently that is what Christians in our country do.

■ Kārlis Streips is an American-Latvian journalist and commentator working in Riga.  His article is based on a 'blog' in Latvian that was posted today on the V-Diena newspaper website.

SEE ALSO (March Latvia coverage)

This Is War, Anti-Gay American Preacher Hutcherson Tells Europe.  As news emerged that a new “anti-gay” group had been registered in Latvia, the plot thickened as to the involvement of an American preacher with religious groups in the country who told an American newspaper: “this is a war”, referring to his anti-gay campaign in Europe.  (UK Gay News, March 26, 2007)

Seattle Lawyer Files Complaint With FBI Over Ken Hutcherson’s Claim that He Is a U.S. “Special Envoy”  By Eli Sanders.  Dave Coffman, a gay attorney in Seattle, tells me he has filed a complaint with the Seattle office of the FBI requesting that it investigate whether Pastor Ken Hutcherson violated federal law by claiming to be a White House “Special Envoy” in Latvia when, according to the White House, Hutcherson was never given any such designation.  (Seattle Stranger, March 20, 2007)

Anti-Gay Latvian Group Charges Blair With Interfering In Domestic Politics.  A letter of protest has been sent to British Prime Minister Tony Blair by the Latvian “No Pride” group, which organised the protest against Riga Gay Pride last year when demonstrators threw excrement at Pride participants.  (UK Gay News, March 12, 2007)

Ambassador Welcomes Gay Pride Accord Between London and Riga.  The ‘Statement of Unity’ between Pride London as Rigas Praidas, due to be formally signed this evening in Riga, was another important ‘first’ for Anglo-Latvian friendship, the British Ambassador, Ian Bond, said last night at an Embassy reception for members of Mozaika and the visiting officials Pride London to mark the signing. (UK Gay News, March 8, 2007)

Mayor of London Urges New Mayor of Riga to Press on With Latvian Gay Pride March.  The Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, today welcomed the statement of the new Mayor of Riga saying he was “ashamed” of the attack on the Gay Pride march in that city last year and urged him to ensure that the peaceful Gay Pride march in the city this year could proceed.  (UK Gay News, March 5, 2007)

New Riga Mayor Ashamed of Events at Last Year’s Gay Pride.  Jānis Birks, the newly elected Mayor of Riga, appears to have no issues with the Gay Pride parade in the Latvian capital.  He was interviewed by the internet-based news portal Vdiena.lv which is run by the biggest Latvian daily newspaper “Diena”.  (UK Gay News, March 3, 2007)