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Latvia:

Fri 1 Jun 2007 In: International News

A ‘No Pride' anti-gay group in Latvia are urging foreigners not to visit the Eastern European nation for their annual Pride festival which opened yesterday. “Foreign Guests please don't come. It's our problem. Not yours!” ‘No Pride' say on their website. However, guests appear to be welcome in town for the four-day ‘Friendship Days and Gay Pride' festival if they support the No Pride viewpoint. The coalition of homophobic groups that include the New Generation Church, the National Front, and ad hoc ‘skinhead' groups, staged a demonstration against the Gay Pride festival on Tuesday. “We are not against homosexuals,” said Karlis Dumbris of the radical National Front. “They can do whatever they want — but we are against them spreading propaganda about their lifestyle.” Around 60 people were at Tuesday's protest, demanding that the Pride be banned. Anti-Gay and Pride factions have also managed to get the Double Coffee chain of coffeehouses to remove Gay Pride postcards from racks in their many Riga outlets. “Threats were made to the company,” the spokesperson said. “And Double Coffee capitulated.” This move has shocked gays in Riga, who are now boycotting the company. This year, police have tightened their security plans for the march on Sunday which organisers predict will be attended by about 400, including activists from Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands, UK as well as from the European Parliament.     Ref: UK Gay News (m)

Credit: GayNZ.com News Staff

First published: Friday, 1st June 2007 - 12:00pm

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