“Serious concern” on the increased homophobia

BRUSSELS, December 6, 2005 (ILGA-Europe News)  –  Two leading Members of the European Parliament’s gay and lesbian rights ‘Intergroup’ have today expressed “serious concern” on the increased homophobia in Latvia.

The concern comes in the wake of last week’s second reading in the Latvian Parliament of a proposed change in the country’s constitution that explicitly excludes same-sex marriage.  Only three  of Parliament’s 100 MPs voted against the proposed amendment.

“Latvia is clearly moving backwards compared to the majority of European States,” said Sophie in't Veld (Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe – Netherlands) who is vice-president of the Intergroup.

“The European Parliament has to raise its voice against the right-wing and homophobic elements in European politics who would like to re-impose their backward and homophobic values on the rest of society,” she insisted.

The Latvian constitutional amendment was proposed earlier this year by the First Party of Latvia  –dubbed “the preachers’ party” – as a result of their homophobic campaign during and after the first LGBT Pride March in Riga last summer.

The constitutional amendment needs to pass three readings in Parliament to be adopted.  In the first reading, 65 of the 100 members supported the amendment, 5 MPs voted against and 20 abstained. Last week, at the second reading, 73 Latvian MPs voted to support the constitutional amendment, only 3 voted against, while 12 abstained  – and 2 MPs did not vote.

Gays in Latvia are convinced that after the third and final reading, which needs to pass with a two-thirds majority, the country will have a constitution which explicitly prevents same-sex marriage.

“Despite the fact that Latvia is now a member of the EU, this constitutional ban of same-sex marriages is just one example of many of homophobia in the country”, said Michael Cashman (Socialist/Labour – United Kingdom), the president of the Intergroup.

“All member states must conform to EU law including laws which protect citizens’ fundamental rights and freedoms.

“The Intergroup will do all it can to ensure that the EU law is respected and urge the [European] Commission to act when violations occur,” he pledged.

Today in Riga, the Social and Employment Committee of the Latvian Parliament, passed in the second reading an amendment to the Latvia’s labour law explicitly outlaw discrimination of grounds of sexual orientation in employment.

The committee rejected a proposal from the First Party to delete “sexual orientation” from the draft.

However, the Parliamentary Committee supported a proposal from the First Party that will allow religious organisation to discriminate on the grounds of sexual orientation when person’s ‘views and persuasions’ will not conform the teaching of religious organisation.  Such proposal was also supported by representatives of various denominations who attended the meeting of the Parliamentary Committee.

SEE ALSO

 Block Put on Gay Marriage by Latvian Parliament.  A change in the constitution that will define marriage as being between a man and a woman, and blocks the way for “gay marriage”, became a virtual certainty today when the 100-seat Latvian parliament passed the proposal with a massive majority in the amendment’s second reading. (UK Gay News, December 1, 2005)