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Gay rights in eastern Europe just took a big step forward | Gay rights in eastern Europe just took a big step forward |
(about 2 hours later) | |
MOSCOW — Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics announced Thursday that he was gay, breaking a barrier in Eastern Europe’s socially conservative political arena. | |
The declaration, made via a cheerful Twitter posting, immediately gave gay rights advocates a prominent voice in post-Soviet Eastern Europe. The region — where openly gay public figures are a rarity — has significantly lagged behind the United States and Western Europe in its acceptance of same-sex relationships. | |
The announcement came less than two months before Latvia assumes the European Union’s rotating presidency on Jan. 1, giving Rinkevics an even higher-profile platform from which to push for more tolerance for same-sex relationships. | |
“Our country has to create a legal status for all kinds of partner relationships, and I will fight for this. I know that there will quickly be mega-hysteria, but #proudtobegay,” he wrote Thursday on Twitter. | |
A spokesman confirmed the authenticity of the post. Rinkevics, 41, one of Latvia’s most popular politicians, had long declined to discuss his personal life. He is a member of the ruling Unity party and since 2011 has been foreign minister of the Baltic nation of 2 million people. | |
Latvia enacted a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage in 2005, and very few gay men and lesbians in the country are open about their sexuality. A law that would confine sex education in schools to traditional opposite-sex marriage is making its way through Parliament. | |
Rinkevics declined Thursday to comment on the timing of the announcement. It came a day after his post as foreign minister was confirmed as part of Latvia’s new government. The nation held parliamentary elections last month. | |
Many other former Eastern Bloc countries also have constitutional bans on same-sex marriages, and openly gay people have frequently complained about discrimination. | |
The announcement comes at a time when tensions between the West and Russia, which has styled itself as a bastion of traditional family values, are at their highest level since the Cold War. Russia forbids “gay propaganda” to minors, a law that gay rights advocates say has been used to persecute them. After Apple chief executive Tim Cook announced last week that he was gay, an iPhone-shaped monument to Apple founder Steve Jobs was taken down in St. Petersburg. | |
Openly gay European politicians have been subject to snipes from Eastern European leaders in the past. | |
“It’s better to be a dictator than gay,” Belarusan President Alexander Lukashenko once said in response to criticism of his human rights record from then-German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle, who is openly gay. |
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