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The struggle in Ukraine has introduced more and more harsh ways towards gay Russians at home. 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 foreign minister for greater than a decade — got here out in 2014, asserting on Twitter that he was “proud to be gay.” 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 line with an index published by the rights group ILGA.
Not like the USA, the position of president in Latvia is a largely ceremonial position elected by members of its 100-seat parliament.
Rinkevics acquired 52 of a doable 87 votes in a runoff spherical of voting on Wednesday — yet one more than required to win the publish. His closest rival, businessman Uldis Pilens, bought 25 votes. The populist For Stability occasion, which is related to Latvia’s Russian-speaking minority, voted towards each finalists.
He’s set to imagine workplace July 8.
Rinkevics, who in his earlier position because the nation’s high diplomat gained 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 can 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 equipped extra navy help to Ukraine as a percentage of their economy than any other country, in line with a tracker by the Kiel Institute in Germany. The Baltic nations, together with Warsaw, have additionally been instrumental in serving to Kyiv safe navy help from the West.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky congratulated Rinkevics on his appointment, describing him as a “true pal of Ukraine.”
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