Message forwarded from IGLHRC
Date: Mon, 12 Jan 98 22:31:22 -0500
From: MINELRES moderator <[email protected]>
Message-Id: <[email protected]>
To: "[email protected]" <[email protected]>
Subject: Message forwarded from IGLHRC
From: MINELRES moderator \ Internet: ([email protected])
Original sender: Britt Elliott \ Internet: ([email protected]
.com)
Message forwarded from IGLHRC
Hello, Boris. I am forwarding a message sent by the International Gay and
Lesbian Human Rights Commission, a US-based NGO. I would be interested to
know if anyone on MINELRES-L has heard anything more about this case.
Britt Elliott
_________________________________________________________________
LATVIA: NATIONALISM FINDS NEW ENEMIES
In the summer of 1997, a local newspaper in Bauska, Latvia, published an
interview with a policeman, Gatis Bugoveckis, who declared that he was
homosexual, and stated that he was not the only gay man working in the
police.
Bugoveckis was immediately suspended by Bauska police, who also assembled a
certification commission which informed the Personnel Department of the
Latvian Ministry of Interior of Bugoveckis' homosexuality. As a result, he
was also denied a transfer to serve in the city of Riga, which had been
formally approved. According to information received by the Homosexuality
Information Center (HIC) in Latvia, the police told Bugoveckis that his
interview was an "insult and humiliation to their honor." He was also
pressured by the investigating officer, Edmunds Zabeens, to name other
homosexuals in the police force. As a result of the pressure, as well as
threats to his and his partner's safety, Bugoveckis resigned.
This case underlines a pattern of intolerance toward and discrimination
against gays and lesbians in Latvia, encouraged by openly homophobic
comments from state officials. Former Prime Minister Andris Skele has
stated in the past that the "correct" sexual orientation should be required
for employment in state institutions. (Reportedly, candidates for the police
force must currently have their heterosexuality certified by a psychiatrist.
) An amendment to include sexual orientation in anti-discrimination
provisions of the Criminal Code has been stalled in Parliament for four
years; during one debate, a member of the Parliamentary Human Rights
Committee, describing homosexuals as one of the lowest groups in society,
declared that they deserved no legal protections.
More recently, the National Democratic Party, a right-wing ethnonationalist
political group, has launched a campaign against gays and lesbians.
According to the newspaper "CM" (October 21, 1997), a National Democrats'
manifesto declares that "In order to protect the healthy part of the nation
from the criminal, vicious, and disastrous influence of the shameless
representatives of sexual minorities, it is necessary to adopt severe
measures at once." The measures proposed include a ban on media
representations of gays and lesbians, as well as on public activities and
events.
The Homosexuality Information Center calls for letters to the Ministry of
the Interior and to local police in Bauska to protest the firing of Gatis
Bugoveckis. HIC also calls for letters to the President and Parliament of
Latvia to insist on an end to homophobic discrimination.
Letters to local police should:
- demand the reinstatement of Gatis Bugoveckis;
- demand administrative punishment of members of the police force who incite
hatred on the grounds of sexual orientation.
Letters to the Ministry of the Interior should, in addition:
- demand an end to the questioning of applicants to the police force about
their sexual orientation.
Letters to the President of the Republic of Latvia should urge him to:
- initiate legislation combating discrimination against lesbian, gay, and
bisexual citizens, and guaranteeing the protection of their equal rights;
- declare such reform a priority in the area of human rights in Latvia.
Letters to the Parliament (Saeima) of the Republic of Latvia should call on
members to:
- include sexual orientation in paragraph 12 of the Constitutional Law On
the Rights and Duties of Citizens and People, listing grounds on which
discrimination is prohibited;
- include sexual orientation in paragraph 69 of the Criminal Code, which
lists grounds on which discrimination is legally penalized;
- amend existing legislation so as to provide equal rights to gays and
lesbian couples in such areas as adoption, child custody, inheritance,
social security, pensions, housing, immigration, and labor law, or adopt a
law on civil unions which contains such provisions.
Letters should be sent to:
The President of the Republic of Latvia
Pils laukums 3
Riga 50
LV-1900 Latvia
Fax: 371-732-5800
email: [email protected]
Saeima (Parliament) of the Republic of Latvia
Jekaba iela 11
Riga
LV-1050 Latvia
Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Latvia
Raina bulvaris 6
Riga
LV-1050 Latvia
Police of the city of Bauska
Zala iela 12
Bauska
LV-3901
Fax: 371-39-24335
--
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