Eastern Europe was once a world lear on gay rights. Then ran out of spegoats | CNN

Contents:

• LATVIA SWEARS EDGARS RKEVICS AS EU'S FIRST OPENLY GAY PRINT
• LATVIA BE 7TH NATN TO BE LED BY AN OPENLY GAY HEAD OF STATE
• EU’S FIRST OPENLY GAY HEAD OF STATE ELECTED BY LATVIAN ASSEMBLY
• "THE PRIME MISTER AND HIS HBAND": GAY LEARS AROUND THE WORLD
• EASTERN EUROPE WAS ONCE A WORLD LEAR ON GAY RIGHTS. THEN RAN OUT OF SPEGOATS
• GAY US AMBASSADOR TO HUNGARY MARCH BUDAPT PRI MARCH
• PRBYTERIAN MISTER FAC SANCTNS OVER GAY UPLE SUPPORT
• BELAS'S LASHENKO: "BETTER A DICTATOR THAN GAY"
• GREECE NAM FIRST OPENLY GAY MISTER
• 'BETTER A DICTATOR THAN GAY,' BELAS PRINT ALEXANR LASHENKO SAYS

LATVIA SWEARS EDGARS RKEVICS AS EU'S FIRST OPENLY GAY PRINT

Image source, EPAImage ptn, In his first speech as print, Edgars Rkevics said the "fight agast rptn, crime and rtels mt be a natnal prry"Latvia's long-servg foreign mister Edgars Rkevics has bee the first openly gay head of state of a European Unn natn.

Although generally a ceremonial posn, Latvia's print n veto legislatn and ll EU has had openly gay heads of ernments before, but never a gay head of state. Former Belgian Prime Mister El di Rupo was the EU's first openly gay head of Rkevics, 49, first me out 2014 and has been a vol champn of LGBT rights ever marriage is illegal Latvia, though the untry's nstutnal urt regnised same sex unns last May, Mr Rkevics was elected by Latvia's parliament to be the untry's next print at the third round of Saturday his gural speech, Mr Rkevics vowed to ntue supportg Ukrae's ongog war effort agast said Latvia's foreign policy "do not have time for mistak", addg he will act "quickly, cisively and wisely" his speech, Mr Rkevics enuraged young Latvians to "break the glass ceilg" as he addrsed equaly as beg a "signifint problem".

Latvia swore the first openly gay print of a Baltic natn Rkēvičs, who sce 2011 was the untry’s foreign mister, was elected by Parliament May after Print Egils Levs did not seek re-electn.

LATVIA BE 7TH NATN TO BE LED BY AN OPENLY GAY HEAD OF STATE

”Rkēvičs “proudly” announced he is gay on Twter November 2014, though the untry, a former Soviet republic, is not pecially LGBTQ-clive.

” He said he knew there would be “mega hysteria, ” but he end wh the hashtag “#Proudtobegay. ”He is one of jt a few openly gay heads of state the world.

EU’S FIRST OPENLY GAY HEAD OF STATE ELECTED BY LATVIAN ASSEMBLY

She is thought to be the first openly gay prime mister the was an active unnist her nearly 10 years workg as a flight attendant, acrdg to the Council of Women World Lears, a work of female heads of state. After the accatn, he said, he was chased down the street by reporters, one of whom yelled, “Yet they say you’re a homosexual! ”Xavier Bettel Prime Mister of Luxembourg (2013-prent)Luxembourg Prime Mister Xavier Bettel at a news nference Belgra, Serbia, on July Vojovic / APBettel was first elected prime mister of Luxembourg 2013, and 2018 he beme the first openly gay prime mister the world to be re-elected for a send marriage beme legal Luxembourg 2015, and the same year Bettel beme the first servg European Unn lear to marry a same-sex partner, the BBC recently cricized a Hungarian law that bans school tnal materials and TV shows for people unr 18 that are emed to promote LGBTQ ntent, Rters reported.

“To be natnally blamed, to be nsired as not normal, to be nsired as a danger for young people — ’s not realizg that beg gay is not a choice, ” Bettel said, acrdg to Rters.

"THE PRIME MISTER AND HIS HBAND": GAY LEARS AROUND THE WORLD

Gay, lbian and bisexual people n serve the ary, but transgenr people nnot. “Hopefully this will blow over three or four days, and then I won’t be known as the gay mister, ” she told The Associated Prs at the Varadkar Prime Mister of Ireland (2017-20, 2022-prent)Irish Prime Mister Leo Varadkar Bssels on June 30.

Ludovic Mar / AFP - Getty Imag fileVaradkar beme Ireland’s first openly gay Taoiseach, or prime mister, 2017 and served until 2020. Latvia’s parliament elected long-time Foreign Mister Edgars Rkevics as the Baltic natn’s new print, makg him the European Unn’s first openly gay head of state. Up NextEU’s First Openly Gay Head of State Elected by Latvian Assembly.

She beme the first lear of any untry the Balkans to attend a gay pri march, sayg “For me, this is a way to make an active ntributn to alg wh stereotyp and prejudic.

EASTERN EUROPE WAS ONCE A WORLD LEAR ON GAY RIGHTS. THEN RAN OUT OF SPEGOATS

Meet Leo, the openly gay, half-Indian Taoiseach (Prime Mister) of Ireland. El Di Rupo was the Prime Mister of Belgium, and the first openly gay man (and the send LGBT person) to lead a untry. One of the most strikg moments was when a journalist a media pack chasg him down the street cried, “Yet they say you’re a homosexual!

All hail Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir, the first gay Prime Mister of Iceland, and the first LGBTI lear of a untry anywhere the world. As one would expect, most gay world lears have belonged to progrsive parti and pursued progrsive agendas, mirrorg the beliefs of the people that elected them. Hungary’s hardle natnalist ernment passed a new law earlier this month banng ntent that “promot” homosexualy and genr change om beg shared wh children, effectively prohibg any discsn of LGBTQ them schools.

In dog so, Orbán has followed the playbook of Poland’s ernment, which has been chippg away at the rights of the LGBTQ muny for a number of years, adoptg discrimatory rhetoric and stokg homophobia. “There’s a real regrsn happeng many different untri, and rights that had been regnized are now beg challenged, ” said Evelyne Paradis, the executive director of the European branch of the Internatnal Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Associatn (ILGA-Europe).

GAY US AMBASSADOR TO HUNGARY MARCH BUDAPT PRI MARCH

Orbán, like the ernment Poland and some other untri, is tryg to prent homophobic polici as a way of protectg natnal valu. “It’s not about homosexuals, ’s about the kids and the parents, ” he told reporters, addg that he was a “eedom fighter” durg Hungary’s munist era. She add that the ia of natn is often closely associated wh a tradnal fay and genr rol – another way to “other” the gay muny.

“You have plac like Germany, France, Spa where 85% or more say that homosexualy should be accepted by society and then once you’re past the dividg le, on the other si of the former Iron Curta, those numbers beg to fall pretty rapidly and then get even lower as you go to Rsia, ” he said. Acrdg to Pohter’s rearch, 47% of people Poland and 49% of people Hungary say homosexualy should be accepted.

PRBYTERIAN MISTER FAC SANCTNS OVER GAY UPLE SUPPORT

“When you look at the former Eastern bloc, the untri had a long tradn of really progrsive legislatn towards LGBTQ rights, Poland for stance crimalized homosexualy 1932, which is really, really early, ” Kościańska said. Duds said Hungary, too, was once ahead of Wtern Europe, crimalizg homosexualy 1961, although the muny remaed largely visible.

1/11 Cred(Guillermo Gutierrez Carrasl/SOPA Imag/LightRocket/Getty Imag)View as articleJune 1 marked the start of Pri month, acknowledged by untri across the globe as a time to memorate the LGBTQ+ Pri month is wily celebrated, LGBTQ+ rights are still subject to bate much of the world, wh many untri divid over gay marriage, genr-affirmg re for transgenr mors and other legislatn affectg the LGBTQ+ muny.

Lawmakers Latvia’s legislature elected Rkēvičs to serve as print wh 52 vot May, makg him the European Unn’s first openly gay head of 2014, Rkēvičs tweeted that Latvia “mt create a legal amework for all kds of partnerships, I will fight for , I know that there will be mega hysteria right away, but #Proudtobegay. ” Shortly after, he tweeted “I proudly announce I am gay... When she entered ernment as mister of public admistratn and lol ernment 2016, Brnabić told the Associated Prs, "Hopefully this will blow over three or four days, and then I won't be known as the gay mister.

BELAS'S LASHENKO: "BETTER A DICTATOR THAN GAY"

In the nservative untry, Serbia’s nstutn f marriage as a unn between a man and a woman and gay civil partnerships, such as the one Brnabić is wh her partner, are not officially regnized. Addnally, same-sex upl are not allowed to adopt Febary 2019, Brnabić and her partner weled their first child via artificial sematn, acrdg to the Varadkar4/11 Cred(Peter Morrison/AP)View as articleLeo VaradkarCountry: IrelandPosn: Prime MisterTime Office: June 2017-PrentLeo Varadkar beme Ireland’s first openly gay prime mister when he took office 2017.

Jt two years earlier, he had publicly e out as gay prr to Ireland's referendum legalizg same-sex marriage. "I am a gay man, 's not a secret, but not somethg that everyone would necsarily know, " Varadkar said, acrdg to The Irish Tim. ”Next:Xavier Bettel5/11 Cred(Geert Vann Wijngaert/AP)View as articleXavier BettelCountry: LuxembourgPosn: Prime MisterTime Office: December 2013-PrentXavier Bettel is the first openly gay prime mister of Luxembourg, a largely Roman Catholic natn.

GREECE NAM FIRST OPENLY GAY MISTER

Ronlli’s appotment, a untry where homosexualy was punishable by jail until 2004, ma him the first openly LGBTQ head of state the world. ”Next:El Di Rupo7/11 Cred(BRUNO FAHY/BELGA MAG/AFP/Getty Imag)View as articleEl Di RupoCountry: BelgiumPosn: Prime MisterTime Office: December 2011-2014El Di Rupo beme Belgium’s first openly gay lear when he took office as prime mister December 2011.

Di Rupo opened up about this sexualy to reporters after beg acced of havg sex and abg unrage mal, somethg he stnchly Rupo told a bgrapher that 1996, as he was beg followed by journalists, one shouted at him “They say you’re a homosexual, ” to which Di Rupo rpond: "Y. "In 2014, at the EU-Ai summ Bssels, Di Rupo addrsed Ain and European lears, urgg them to acknowledge and rpect the rights of mori, cludg gay men and women.

'BETTER A DICTATOR THAN GAY,' BELAS PRINT ALEXANR LASHENKO SAYS

1, 2009, when she beme Iceland's first female prime mister and the world's first openly gay head of ernment. Saavedra, who also served the Spanish Senate and as mayor of Las Palmas, the pal cy of the Canary Islands, was the first openly-gay polician Spa. Saavedra did not talk about his sexualy until 2000, a year to his senate posn, when on a tour of Spa discsg a book on outg, he announced he was gay.

Saavedra told El Mundo that Spa’s post-Fran society was still reprsive, “wh many homophobic habs” still the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party. In the untry that first legalized gay marriage, the Dutch crown prcs has the right to marry a person of any genr whout givg up her right to the throne, the Prime Mister of the Netherlands said on Tuday. Gay marriage was legalized the Netherlands 2001.