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Lawmakers in Latvia have chosen International Minister Edgars Rinkevics because the nation’s new president, making him the primary overtly homosexual head of state within the European Union.
The 49-year-old’s election — which was finalized because the Latvian capital of Riga was kicking off Pleasure celebrations — was celebrated by homosexual rights activists throughout Europe. It additionally highlights the widening gulf between Latvia, which was occupied by the Soviet Union for a couple of half-century, and Russia.
The conflict in Ukraine has introduced more and more harsh ways towards homosexual Russians at residence. The Kremlin has tightened restrictions on LGBTQ “propaganda” and Russian lawmakers are contemplating laws that will ban gender-reassignment surgical procedure. The notion of defending conventional Christian beliefs has additionally been used to justify Russia’s unlawful invasion, The Washington Submit has reported.
Attitudes towards gays and others of non-heterosexual orientations have traditionally been much less tolerant within the three Baltic nations — Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania — than in western Europe.
Rinkevics — a center-right politician who has served as international minister for greater than a decade — got here out in 2014, saying on Twitter that he was “proud to be homosexual.” On the time, he vowed to struggle for a authorized framework for same-sex marriage, which stays unlawful in Latvia.
The nation of round 1.9 million folks ranks among the many worst locations in Europe to be a LGBTI+ citizen when it comes to authorized rights, in response to an index revealed by the rights group ILGA.
In contrast to america, the function of president in Latvia is a largely ceremonial function elected by members of its 100-seat parliament.
Rinkevics acquired 52 of a doable 87 votes in a runoff spherical of voting on Wednesday — another than required to win the publish. His closest rival, businessman Uldis Pilens, received 25 votes. The populist For Stability celebration, which is related to Latvia’s Russian-speaking minority, voted towards each finalists.
He’s set to imagine workplace July 8.
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Rinkevics, who in his earlier function because the nation’s high diplomat received favor with many Latvians over his unwavering stance towards Russia in assist of Ukraine, pledged Wednesday to “serve the folks of Latvia nicely.”
In a information convention after the votes have been tallied, he mentioned there could be “no surprises, no modifications” in Riga’s assist for Kyiv, and its backing of the European Union and NATO “because the cornerstones of our international coverage,” state media reported.
Latvia and Estonia have provided extra navy assist to Ukraine as a proportion of their economic system than some other nation, in response to a tracker by the Kiel Institute in Germany. The Baltic international locations, together with Warsaw, have additionally been instrumental in serving to Kyiv safe navy assist from the West.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky congratulated Rinkevics on his appointment, describing him as a “true buddy of Ukraine.”