Gay Pride in Riga, Latvia 2007 or Friendship Days

by ri tarado - fnbg Fri Jul 13, 2007 19:50

from one point of view, it's kinda sad, that instead marching in the streets, people had to march in a park behind the fences, but from other i'm really glad it happened at all. gay pride march in lithuania was banned by city council at all. and you should have seen that massive homophobic campaign that boneheads were doing there when council was considering the decision...
well done riga!

by missed pride Thu Jun 28, 2007 03:31

would be great if some one could post a bit about Dublin pride on indymedia, was looking for photos the next day n there didn't seem to be any.
photo story anyone??? Or just a story?

by 2-4-6-8- Do you know if your brother is straight? Mon Jun 25, 2007 18:57

was held last Saturday. 8,000 turned out. The biggest and best pride so far.

Lots of photos here.
http://www.tranniehaven.com/dublinpride07.html

by Anders Dahlbeck - Amnesty International Fri Jun 22, 2007 12:19

Dear Paula,

Thank you for this account of the events in Riga, and for sharing these great photos with us. Thanks also for linking up to our blog :o)

Hope to see you next year in Riga!

Anders

PS. Congratulations again to Mozaika for managing to make the Latvian LGBT fight for rights and respect so internationally known and supported. Your fight has touched the minds and hearts of LGBT activists and human rights advocates all over the world.

by Grant Fri Jun 22, 2007 11:19

Well done for making this happen. The rest of Europe and the rest of the world are watching and many of us are cheering for you.
I've visited Riga as a tourist and would love to be there for Pride sometime.
Grant

by Juris Lavrikovs - ILGA-Europe & Mozaika Fri Jun 22, 2007 10:39 juris at ilga-europe dot org

Dear Paula,

Thanks a lot for your great story, pictures and audios. It was great pleasure to meet and talk to you in Riga during the Friendship Days and Equality March.

I would also want to thank once again all the Latvian people, straight and LGBT, who came out on that day and supported democracy, humanity and respect in Latvia. Our huge thanks also go to all foreign guests who came over to Riga that weekend to support us in Latvia. It is important to say that they were not just supporting democracy in Latvia, but in entire Europe. Countries like Latvia, Poland and Romania are now members of the European Union and their governments are participating in making decisions which concern all people across European Union therefore ALL EU citizens should be concerned with developments in those countries. I also hope that the foreign support will also continue next and coming years as this is not yet a victory in Latvia, its just a beginning.

If anybody want to read more about what happened in Riga, I put together an archive with lots of articles and visual at ILGA-Europe website: http://www.ilga-europe.org/europe/guide/country_by_coun..._2007

Once again, thanks Paula and all who were out with us on that day and also many more who were with us in their minds and thoughts but could not join us, this is a beginning and indeed – We Shall Overcome!

Juris Lavrikovs
Working for ILGA-Europe and a founding member of Mozaika

by siobhan Fri Jun 22, 2007 10:22

thanks for that report and the photos - usual emotions of sadness at protesters and respect at the smiling faces who are there to fight for the right to have their love respected.

This kind of pride is a far cry from the dublin pride - but do you know what - 10 years ago dublin pride was about 20 people doing a small little march and so its a great complaint that the dublin pride has now become a corporate sponsored event.

I've marched in alot of prides in the uk, here and america - ive managed the dyke march twice in new york and came across a good few anti gay protesters simply standing there watching us march by looking at us with their thumbs pointing down - and the banners are awful- its just that the hate is there and present in front of you.

its a crap feeling - especially if youre a big softie like me who cant understand why all people dont love and respect each other...(i still cant bring myself to watch the 2nd Revolt dvd cos i know i'll be crying for days)

anyway - heres hoping queers in Latvia, Poland and many many other countries will have the strength to keep fighting for their right to be in love in peace.

by Paula Geraghty Fri Jun 22, 2007 01:28

(c)

View from the Bus

Another view from the Bus

Breaking off into smaller groups to make that journey back to "blend in"

by Paula Geraghty Fri Jun 22, 2007 01:20

(c)
Just a word of thanks to all those who took part in the audio interviews and gave their time and thoughts so generously.

Marching for Equality

The view from the outside looking in