Tag: latvia gay rights

Latvia elects Edgars Rinkevics as president – the first openly gay head of state in Europe

Latvia has elected a new president – making history the first openly gay head of state in Europe. The country’s parliament elected Edgars Rinkēvičs to be its next president, Reuters reported prime minister Krišjānis Kariņš saying. Rinkēvičs has spent a long time in Latvian politics, serving as the country’s minister of foreign affairs since 2011,… Read more »

Openly Gay Paramedic Burned Alive In Alleged Homophobic Attack

Latvian paramedic, Normunds Kindzulis, has died after allegedly being set ablaze by a homophobic neighbour, reports Out. Early on April 22, Kindzulis’ housemate Artis Jaunklavins, woke up to the sound of screams outside their apartment, discovering Kindzulis fully engulfed in flames at their front door. Jaunklavins says he suffered burns himself trying to extinguish the… Read more »

Latvian president condemns homophobe who set two gay men on fire

In Latvia, two men were set alight in a suspected homophobic hate crime – exposing the fault lines in a republic that resists recognising LGBT+ people. According to local newswires, a scuffle allegedly broke out between a homophobic man and two men living in the same apartment block in Tukums, a historic town of red-brick… Read more »

Why Are HIV Rates on the Rise Among Europe’s Older Adults?

New research published this week in the “Lancet” shows a sharp upward trend in HIV diagnosis rates among adults over 50 in Europe. What explains this alarming increases, and how can we reduce transmission risk? Conducted by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, the study examined the diagnoses rates of 31 European countries… Read more »

Latvia urged to protect EuroPride participants against violence

Amnesty International has urged the Latvian government to commit to protect the participants of this year’s EuroPride. The event will take place on 20 June in Riga, and despite organisers saying authorities have been cooperative, the government has not been openly supportive. Last December, Latvian President Andris Berzins said: “Homosexuality should not be advertised and… Read more »

A minister comes out

When Edgars Rinkevics, Latvia’s foreign minister, came out as gay last week, he had a good sense of the political and cultural minefield he was stepping into. “All hell is likely to break loose, but #proudtobegay”, his Latvian coming-out tweet concluded. The English-language version was shorter, and actually featured a typo. It was far less… Read more »

Latvian Foreign Minister Comes Out In A Tweet: ‘I Proudly Announce I Am Gay’

Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics apparently came out of the closet in a single, sunny tweet on Thursday. His announcement — which is particularly astonishing given Eastern Europe’s conservative, and largely anti-gay, political environment — has made Rinkevics “the highest-profile gay man” in the region, noted Mediaite. A constitutional ban on same-sex marriage has been… Read more »