“A bill, due its third and final reading at the city’s Legislative Assembly any day now, aims to introduce hefty fines for ‘public actions aimed at propaganda of sodomy, lesbianism, bisexuality, transgenderness among minors’.

St Petersburg has an active and vibrant LGBTI community – but that will all change if this law is passed. It will limit individuals’ rights to freedom of expression and assembly, restrict the activities of LGBTI organisations, and prevent LGBTI young people from accessing information that is vital for their health and well-being, from sexual health services to support groups. Tell St Petersburg not to pass this law in any form.”

Go to the AI action page to send an email or letter.

Thank you.

Jon.

They’ve set up a facebook group to share local events, campaigns, volunteering opportunities and stories from torture survivors living in the local area.

‘Like’ them to show your support!

Click for larger image

Take action at facebook.com/WeAreAllAles – it’s as simple as clicking ‘like’!

(or for the more adventurous, why not add your picture to the photo petition)

It took the Latvian Ombudsman Juris Jansons two months to come up with the statement that “the larger part of Latvian society is not ready to accept a same-sex partnership law which in its essence can be compared to marriage”, and therefore to recommend the Parliament not to support the draft partnership law, which Mozaika prepared last year.

The first thought that came to my mind was – how ready is the Ombudsman himself to defend the rights of discriminated groups and individuals in Latvia? Does he really believe that he needs the majority’s support before taking action against injustice? In that case I think that the Ombudsman has misunderstood his job description.

We read the Ombudsman’s letter with growing disappointment. Not only because of his recommendation not to support our draft law, but also because there was nothing in this dry document that would indicate that the Ombudsman at least finds the situation unsatisfactory, or that he suggests that our politicians take some action to change public attitude towards sexual minorities. The Ombudsman recognises a number of important court cases from the European Court of Human Rights, and he states that he is aware of that many European countries are recognizing same sex partnerships or even marriage, but he fails to look at the effects these cases and pieces of legislation have had in other countries. He also fails to mention all the research that has been carried out, which shows that changes in legislation mostly come before a positive change in public attitude – not after.

The Latvian people will not suddenly wake up one morning saying – today I feel ready to accept something new, something that is a strange concept to me. This will only happen when there is a political will in Latvia to give homosexual couples the same rights that heterosexual couples take for granted.

Indeed, the Ombudsman suggests that a number of amendments should be made in different laws, in order to broaden the circle of people who can be considered “next of kin”. For example, this would give same-sex couples (and non-married straight couples) hospital visitation rights, certain tax benefits, the right not to be a witness in a court case against your partner, etc. These are very welcome changes, but they are not enough to make gay and lesbian couples feel accepted and free to live their lives as they choose in Latvia.

Still, these couples have a choice – often they choose to leave. They go to other countries in Europe where they can register their partnerships, and where they can live without being stigmatised or looked upon as “freaks”, “traditional marriage breakers” or “immoral”. In a country with around 2 million inhabitants, a negative demographic curve and a poor economy, every tax-paying individual counts. We simply cannot afford to allow all people who are not entirely heterosexual either choose to leave or lead sorry and depressed lives in the closet.

While politicians speculate about how many votes they would gain or lose by standing up for human rights and equal treatment real people make real decisions about their lives – and, as we say in Latvia, they “vote with their feet”.

This is a fact which Mozaika has tried to explain to our political leaders, including the Ombudsman. So far, as it seems, we have not been too successful, even if we also count our small victories. For example, since the last elections (in September 2011) the most homophobic party is out of the Parliament, and along with it – a number of extremely aggressive MPs. In the election campaign leading up to the September elections same-sex partner rights were mentioned in a few party programmes – for the first time. If any of the amendments, which the Ombudsman suggests, will be adopted, this will be a step in the right direction.

But at this point it feels that more radical actions are needed to force change to occur. For example, we are thinking of using litigation as a way of drawing the media’s attention to the absurd situation many homosexual couples are facing today – including families with children, who do not enjoy the same rights as other children. And we realise that we simply have to step up our advocacy efforts to make sure that Latvia does not find itself among the very last countries in Europe who recognise the obvious – that everyone should have the same rights, no matter how many or few feel “ready” to accept it.

For further information or to send messages of support, contact Mozaika:

• Web: www.mozaika.lv
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mozaikalv
• Twitter: lgbt_mozaika

And if it’s you’re fist time, why not come along beforehand to our Pre-Meeting. These are designed for people coming to the monthly meeting for the first time. It gives you a chance to ask questions before walking over to the main meeting, without having to walk into a room full of strangers (not that we’re not all wonderful welcoming people, of course!) So, come along to Urban Coffee Company (Church Street  Birmingham, West Midlands B3 2NP) at 7pm and just say hello – bring a friend if you wish!

We, parliamentarians of the member states of the Council of Europe, strongly support the idea of awarding the Nobel Peace Prize to the distinguished Belarusian activist and the human rights defender – Ales Bialiatski.

Ales Bialiatski, sentenced to 4,5 years of hard labour, has never been a politician. His only fault is that, being a sensitive person, he stood alongside the victims of the antidemocratic regime, helped them and took care of their families. We demand his release.

The People of the Free Europe will never abandon the citizens of Belarus, who are fully entitled to exercise the same rights as we do.

Meet at the MAC bar at 7.30, we will see the film, which come highly reccomended by our group member Bert, and have a breif chat about it afterwards.

See the trailer and find out more about the film.