First Baltic gay pride march takes place in Riga

[Solver]

I just thought the Apolytoner sexual minorities (although gays aren't quite a minority here ) would find this interesting.

In Riga today, the first gay & lesbian march in the Baltic states took place, amid protests.

BBC report: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4711261.stm

Latvian police have arrested protesters after they shouted insults and threw eggs at people taking part in the Baltic state's first gay pride march.

The few dozen marchers were outnumbered by hundreds of protesters who blocked the narrow streets of the capital.

Police were forced to alter the march route and to form a chain around the parade participants to protect them.

The march had sparked outrage in Latvia and only went ahead after a court overturned a council ban on the event.

Officials said that six of the protesters had been detained for their part in disrupting the march.

Prime Minister Aigars Kalvitis had opposed the event, saying Riga should "not promote things like that".

"For sexual minorities to parade in the very heart of Riga, next to the Doma church, is unacceptable," he told LNT television on Wednesday.

One of those who took part in Saturday's march, 61-year-old Lars-Peter Sjouberg, from Sweden, said he had been shocked by the offensive remarks made by protesters.

"Protesters here were really aggressive [...] but it won't stop me from helping my Latvian friends fight for their rights."

Yup, this has been a rather active topic over here lately, with people arguing about whether it should be allowed or not - it was indeed banned, but the court overruled that.

For photos, go to http://www.apollo.lv/portal/articles/52368 , and click the words "Attelu galerija" under the first photo.

Waiting for an Asher sighting .

[Last Conformist]

So Baltic homosexuals too have developed poor taste? I suppose it was only a question of time ...

[Solver]

Actually, there were also some non-Baltic homosexuals there, at least Scandinavians have been reported to come to Riga to take part in it.

[Last Conformist]

That Scandinavian homosexuals have poor taste isn't news. Mark Levengood (spelling?) dresses worse than me, which is no mean feat.

[Solver]

Actually, I was quite surprised to see in the photos that they seemed to be wearing regular clothes mostly. I can't pretend to know much about gay culture, but from what pictures I've seen of pride marchers, gays sometimes appear wearing skirts or other clothing/makeup that isn't usual, while the marchers here seem to be regular looking for the most part.

Some of the placards are interesting though, both the protester and gay ones.

[Kuciwalker]

Baltic gay pride

[Last Conformist]

Obligatory Assertion of Poltical Correctcy: I don't object to public displays of affection 'tween homosexuals. It's just that I find taking pride in your sexual orientation daft, and your typical pride march aesthetically deplorable to boot.

[Solver]

It's just that I find taking pride in your sexual orientation daft

Interestingly though tons of heterosexuals take pride in their sexual orientation .

[Last Conformist]

Originally posted by Solver

It's just that I find taking pride in your sexual orientation daft

Interestingly though tons of heterosexuals take pride in their sexual orientation .

Plenty of heterosexuals are daft. So?

[Solver]

No they're not. It's much more than plenty .

[Zkribbler]

The few dozen marchers . . .

It's a start, but y'need to work on those number.

[Bereta_Eder]

there was the first gay parade in athens not so long ago. no incidents and it was done with the sponsorship of the municipality. that caused some people to go out on the chanels and say some stuff. yeah gays and lesbians are going full throttle around here claiming their rights. which is good, they have been taking a lot of crap about them being gay. there was a series of news shows done about gay rights. it all started when a lawyer beat up a gay activist because the later claimed that the laweyer was a gay and he hided it. so he beat him up. hello?! then he claimed he was justifiably enraged. didnt hold out too good. you know, you're a lawyer?! you shouldnt go around beating people? that's all good and fine, that the gays are taking full offensive (although i dislike categorizing people as gays or not, i prefer the dumbs and the not dumbs classification). i say give them full rights to marry but not having children, unless many studies are done on the subject. i'm not convinced gayism is genetic and i suspect there's a personality abnormality hiding there, sometimes. not always. that's all fine and good for you but not for raising children. that doesnt mean that a person who is not gay will be a good parent either but the goal is to minimize unwanted exposure to the kid. so there have to be a looooot of studies before anything of that sort is considered. but for marriage i'm all for it. no harm.

[Solver]

i'm not convinced gayism is genetic and i suspect there's a personality abnormality hiding there, sometimes. not always. that's all fine and good for you but not for raising children.

The reason I'm weary of gay couples having children is not because I think gays are abnormal, less likely to make good parents or anything - I quite disagree with that. I believe, though, that a child needs two parents, a father and a mother, to grow up in the best possible way. I'm not really sure whether having two parents of the same gender is good for a child.

[notyoueither]

Originally posted by Last Conformist
Obligatory Assertion of Poltical Correctcy: I don't object to public displays of affection 'tween homosexuals. It's just that I find taking pride in your sexual orientation daft, and your typical pride march aesthetically deplorable to boot.

Maybe they're responding to being told they should be ashamed of themselves?

Like this guy is doing:

Prime Minister Aigars Kalvitis had opposed the event, saying Riga should "not promote things like that".

"For sexual minorities to parade in the very heart of Riga, next to the Doma church, is unacceptable," he told LNT television on Wednesday.

[Bereta_Eder]

Originally posted by Solver

i'm not convinced gayism is genetic and i suspect there's a personality abnormality hiding there, sometimes. not always. that's all fine and good for you but not for raising children.

The reason I'm weary of gay couples having children is not because I think gays are abnormal, less likely to make good parents or anything - I quite disagree with that. I believe, though, that a child needs two parents, a father and a mother, to grow up in the best possible way. I'm not really sure whether having two parents of the same gender is good for a child.

yeah there's that too. that's also very important. to clarify, i dont think they are "abnormal" (who's normal? what's normal?) I think some have a condition that is close to that of pathological narcisism. I consider that like some kind of personality abnormality. again not judging and saying "that's bad" or "that's good". what I am saying is that this is probably detrimental to have when wanting to raise a child. again not all of them. some and it's not a judgement but an observation.