An open letter from Cardinal Janis Pujats demands a referendum on the issue of
same-sex marriage and calls on crowds of people to take to the streets of Riga
to oppose the Pride march on June 3rd.
"If there are 1,000 sexually crazy people acting foolishly in the square of
Pride, then the people's march in Riga should have at least 40,000 or 50,000,"
he wrote.
"That proportion would give the government and public thought enough reason to
leave sexual perversion outside the law."
The Roman Catholic leader recommends holding the "provocative demonstration
(Pride), in a location that is closed and limited some way - a garden or
square."
The Cardinal calls gay Pride a "foreign-inspired action" and his wide-ranging
attacks show an underlying unhappiness with the new Latvia as an EU member.
"If a person's beliefs are godless, then there is little hope to get rid of
sexual dependency.
"And it is not wonder that homosexuals, now that they have noticed quite a
sexualised society, are attacking us with their perversions," he wrote.
The Cardinal claims that no human rights document covers gay people as a
protected minority.
He also uses a report from 243 Latvian doctors as proof that homosexuality is
an illness.
"The claim which says that homosexuality is a permissible version of normal
behaviour or a special inborn disease is not true.
"The dependency created by this immorality and the resulting perverse
behaviours must be seen as a sickness," the doctors' report reads.
Last month Christian groups in Latvia welcomed fundamentalist US preachers and
to the country and talked tactics about opposing gay rights.
A meeting organised by Janis Vanags, Archbishop of the Latvian Evangelical
Lutheran Church, was attended by Cardinal Pujats and representatives of the
Orthodox, Penecostals and other Christian groups.
They were addressed by Kenneth Hutcherson, who runs a 'super-church' in Seattle
and is a vehement opponent of gay rights.
He told the Latvians that homosexuality was spreading rapidly, and that the
"gay lobby" had increasing political influence across the world.
"We need to do everything to ensure that even in the European Union it does not
lose its principles.
"It is a holy right of any nation to decide in what society to live," he told
the assembled crowd, which included senior MPs.
Latvia joined the EU in 2004.
Mayor of London Ken Livingstone has pledged his support for the Riga Pride
event, and London Pride has twinned with Riga as a show of solidarity.
Last year the march was attacked and missiles and human excrement were thrown
at participants.
Gay and lesbian protesters were refused permission to march in Riga on the 22nd
July 2006 by city officials, who cited security advice from the interior
ministry.
A group of around 50 activists instead held a service of tolerance at a local
Anglican church.
Hundreds of neo-Nazi skinheads, ultra-nationalists and members of the Orthodox
church besieged the church, pelting the activists with excrement.
It was reported that local police stood and watched as events unfolded and
declined to intervene.
The new Mayor of the Latvian capital has publicly backed the 2007 gay rights
march in the city in June.
In an interview with Diena newspaper last month Janis Birks said he was ashamed
at events last year and called for tolerance and understanding on all sides.
"The problem is not in the march but sexual orientation," said Mr Birks.
"We need to have discussion within society. What happened on the side of sexual
minorities and the other side, I think we need understanding from both sides."
Mr Birks said that if security could be provided, the march could go ahead.
Ken Livingstone, welcomed his Latvian counterpart's comments, but urged Riga
authorities to do more to protect gay people on the march.
"Security is something that is under the control of the authorities," said Mr
Livingstone.
"It is their duty to ensure that demonstrators are able to exercise their right
to peaceful protest."
The Cardinal's call to arms is bound to impact on the security situation at
Riga Pride.
Telling Catholics that "we cannot keep quiet," he concluded:
"I can add that during this time, the faithful must not be passive. They must
be witnesses of God, sufficiently active to defend their Christian values in a
licentious world. Not with weapons, but with their position.
"Not just at worship services, but in civilian life. For all Christians whose
faith is a matter of the heart, and for all others who love their families -
you must be prepared to go out into the streets, not to create disorder, but to
offer a disciplined position in support of the government, because on this very
important issue of morals, the government is on the side of Christians."
