Riga Pride 2006: A Report from the Second Row
[Letzte Aktualisierung: 10.12.2006]
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Riga Pride 2006: A Report from the Second Row |
[Letzte Aktualisierung: 10.12.2006] |
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Für die deutsche Version, bitte hier klicken. |
On the HuK web pages, we already have reports and pictures from the events in Riga/Latvia on July 22, 2006. Therefore, I was first reluctant to add another report of my own. However, the Latvian group Mozaika which had, together with others, organized the program, has asked for eye witness reports and personal impressions, it is collecting them on its web page Chronology of Friendship Days. Therefore, here is a report "from the second row".
I had come to Latvia on my own, I was not one of the well-known solidarity visitors from the political field like members of Parlaments and other public officials. However, my visit was not just private either: I had been in Latvia before, in May 2006, for the annual conference of the European Foum of Christian Gay and Lesbian Groups, representing "Homosexuelle und Kirche" (HuK, Homosexuals and Church), the oldest German faith-related LGBT organization. This made us particulary aware of the efforts in Latvia, and several Forum individuals (among them Arthur Thiry, co-president, from Sweden, and also I) decided to come to Riga at the occasion of the Friendship Days, hoping to show our solidarity in the Riga Pride Parade.
I had come on Thusday evening, had seen a movie during the LGBT film days, and attended a workshop. In the afternoon of July 21, I joined a walking tour through Old Town Riga, with one of us constantly on his cellular phone, attempting to collect news from the court hearing. The decision that the parade was disallowed was a big disappointment, as I realized at the following event, a receiption in the Reval Hotel Latvija.
Having been in the Anglican Church already twice ( picture number 17, taken after the festive church service at the occasion of the European Forum meeting), and coming from a Christian group, I attended the church service in the morning of July 22. I was happy to see some friends again, among them Maris and the congregation's minister Juris Calitis, and Arthur from Sweden. I was a bit weak since my stomach had thrown up on the preceding evening (not related to the Riga Pride events), and I had to sit down a bit more than normal. I felt the spirit of the service, did not look around to the back of the church (where the entrance was), and was just unsuspicious. I was prepared to see protesters later - but at a church service, or in front of a church?
So I was not one of the first ones to leave the church. At that time, they had already come back - some of them with excrements on their clothes, as I realized later (see picture number 5) -, and we were asked to wait, and to leave later via the back exit. It was a strange situation, our group standing in the church basement, amidst food supplies that the congregation stores there for its weekly Saturday food kitchen program for poor people. Finally, police came, two of the protesters that were just beating up a man at the church's main entrance were arrested, and we left the church.
We went to the car of Andes and drove to the press conference. The events there have been described by others in detail, I don't need to repeat them here: We entered the building through a mob of people shouting something that I mostly, due to language differences, could not understand (I did understand, however, the words "No Pride").
After a short lunch, I arrived at the Reval Hotel Latvija early. It was not surprising to see a large hostile crowd there, but also a large number of police officers. People shouted at me but I was not physically attacked, probably due to the police presence. Later, sympathetic gays asked me how I dared to walk around all day in my HuK T shirt ( picture number 7) It might have been naive but I later realized that a lack of language knowledge might have camouflaged me: It was from the Roman Catholic "World Youth Day" in Cologne 2005 (when the Pope visited Cologne), so you needed some knowledge of German to understand the words on the front side ("Lesben und Schwule auch in den Kirchen" - Lesbians and Gays in the churches, too). Like others, I saw some protesters inside the hotel also (see picture number 9) but again, my language ignorance fooled me first: I asked them, in English, what the words on the T shirt meant (it was the red "defense of marriage" T shirt, I learned afterwards). It was not before their reaction that I realized from which side they came: One of them suddenly grabbed my little paper rainbow flag, tore it to pieces, tramped on it, and shouted that I should leave Latvia. I did not see them later, they apparently left or were brought out by hotel security.
The spirit in the hotel hall was great, as was the attention of the media. I don't need to repeat what others have reported about it. Since I was still a bit weak, and the list of speakers long, I left earlier than most others.
This brought me to the main hotel entrance (I did not know about other options) earlier than probably most others. Lots of TV crews, lots of protesters outside. I answered the questions of several reporters, in English - after all, I felt that I should do this, being the press spokesman of my organization. This, on the other hand, gave the protesters more time to realize on which side I was, and to shout even more. (And this gave the TV crews more footage, showing the crowd in motion.) A lady from hotel security came from behind and asked me not to leave the hotel here right now. I complied and went back for a few minutes. Then I left on the "police side", this time avoiding the TV cameras - I had already talked to the reporters. One guy, realizing that I was German, shouted at me in German "Brauchst du meine Kinder?" (Do you use/need my children?). He probably meant "Missbrauchst du meine Kinder?" (Do you abuse my children?). Another example of some peoples' perception of gays! A dialogue was not possible, I just went on. Later, in a bar, someone said that he had seen me on Latvian TV (no words, just leaving the hotel, probably with the noisy crowd around).
If I had known what I now have read in other reports, I'd probably have stayed, for solidarity. A few 100 meters away from the hotel, I just saw the usual "Sunny Riga with tourists" picture. It is only now that I learn that vans filled with people ready for violence were still driving through town. (I was walking, by myself, maybe very much looking like a tourist).
On the next morning, I had to choose between the press conference that was in the program and a church service. I opted for the church service (which was the right thing to do - I later heard that the press conference was cancelled). First, I met by chance a man who introduced himself as the chairman (lay chairman) of a Riga Lutheran congregation. He proudly told me "I have co-signed the petition to not allow the Riga Pride Parade! From the west, from Europe, we get only filth and immorality. We need to keep Latvia clean from this." (I later learned that the minister of this congregation has a different position.) When I told him about Saturday's events, he added that he was not in favor of violence, but that I was a sinner nonetheless - he could only pray for me. A serious conversation was not possible.
I went on to the Anglican church St. Saviours for the regular Sunday morning service. I felt that even though I did not have an official mandate, I should just say Thank You not only to the minister, Dr. Juris Calitis, but to the congregation as well. I was aware of the fact that July 22 brought this congregation even more into the limelight than it had already been before, and that some congregation members not so familiar with LGBT issues might think "It's fine if our minister is so outspoken. But do we really need all this, police and TV crews around the church? Couldn't we just be a normal church congregation?" I thought it would be good to thank them personally and to assure them - as best as I could - that their stand is indeed a "prophetic stand" most appropriate for a Christian church. These were the words used by a minister of a sister congregation in England (found later on the Internet in this congregation's newsletter).
Half an hour before the service I saw a police car checking the situation (see picture number 12) It left after a few minutes when everything was quiet. (After the service, I saw another police car in the side street. It might have been here the whole time; I don't know). I talked to a lady, apparently a member of the congregation, who had been here on Saturday morning by chance and got pelted with those smelling excrements. If I understood her correctly, she said that a police car had been here (maybe when the service started and when it was still quiet) and had then left, very similar to what I saw on Sunday. She told me that afterwards, until 15:00, she was at the police station, translating for the witnesses - not all of them spoke Latvian, and few police officers spoke English. A local TV crew was there also on Sunday, they asked me for an interview (in English) and then had an interview with Juris Calitis. They will probably broadcast his since he spoke Latvian, and I am sure he found the right words (picture number 15)
The service was as bright as it could be on this sunny morning. However, the minister mentioned in his sermon the Saturday events and said that when necessary, it is the duty of a church to help to tear down walls between people of different traditions. Two little girls were baptized; I can only hope that they will grow up in a politically more friendly, more human Latvia. After I said my words of thanks in the "announcements" period, several members of the congregation came to me. One of them, a lady who is apparently a member of the European synod of the Anglican church, said "Yes, we knew that our bishop was somewhat sceptical about our activities for inclusion of lesbian and gays. But we were determined to go ahead with what we think is right." I have to add that in the meantime, the bishop has written a quite good letter to the Latvian president.
I can only say: Keep such friends like the people of St. Saviours, and try to make more friends among the people of good will in Latvia. Despite the frustration about some events of last weekend, the LGBT community has earned more respect than ever among the Latvian people. It definitely has earned my respect!
Reinhold Weicker, webmaster (www.huk.org) and press spokesman of the German Ecumenical Group "Homosexuelle und Kirche" (HuK)