RIGA, May 14, 2008  –  An agreement has been struck between the Riga City Council and organisers of this month’s Gay Pride for the location of the march, the Latvian press reported yesterday.

Ironically, the location agreed – on the banks of the Daugava River – is where, last year, the ‘No Pride’ group staged their rock concert at the same time as the Pride March in Vermanes Park.

However, politician Oskars Kastēns, the Special Assignments Minister for Social Integration Affairs, says that Mozaika, the gay and lesbian non-governmental organisation that organises Gay Pride in Riga, should abandon the march.

“It only prokokes more aggression,” he is reported as saying in yesterday’s Diena.

Riga Gay Pride and Friendship Days is being held between May 30 to June 1 and will include:

● Political discussion about diversity and competitiveness;
● LGBT films;
● Art exhibition;
● Concert and party;
● March for equality;
● Round table discussion with LGBT and Human rights activists from all around Europe.

Again, Amnesity International will be participating in the event and expect to have 100 members from across Europe in Riga.

SEE ALSO

Riga Council Can’t Switch Us Off, Say Latvian Gays.  By Kristine Garina.  Talking about illusions… We have gay-themed TV series like Will & Grace on TV.  We even have Queer Eye for the Straight Guy and it’s widely popular and everyone watches it.  But it’s just something out there, not here. (UK Gay News, May 9, 2008)

Riga Gay Pride 2008: In a Park Behind the Fence – Again?  The office of Latvian Prime Minister Ivars Godmanis and Integration Minister Oskars Kastens have both said that next month’s Riga Pride and March for Equality should take place in an enclosed park as last year at Vermanes Park in central Riga.  UK Gay News, April 25, 2008.

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Posted: 14 May 2008 at 00:00 (UK time)