Re: …”those who pay their taxes and abide by the values of the state.”

Makss, do you think that there is a huge tax evasion problem among homosexuals and that they are conspiring with undergroud Bolshevik cells to bring about the downfall of the state?

1. Why shouldn’t they be allowed to march around in a public procession? Do you believe that Latvia should not protect freedom of expression? Are they a danger to the public or a threat to the state. I don’t think so. They may be in your view a danger to public morals but is that danger truly great of enough in this case to trump the ideal of freedom of expression. Whether expression should be restricted ultimately must be determined case by case, but one must always be very careful with respect to that determination lest Latvia become like the Soviet Union.

2. Democracy does not mean the rule of the majority. Democracy is the fine balance between the rule of the majority and the rights of the minority. This principal, which has guided the U.S. Supreme Court for over a century, is the keystone to the success of the United States. It has empowered people who never would otherwise have had voice and made sure that the US government has never experienced the political shifts and upheavals as seen in so many other countries.

3. It is a very common response from “liberal” Latvians that they do not care what happens behind closed doors as long as it is not flaunted in public. I find it to be a disingenuous response. First, no one is making you go and watch the parade. Second, the reason homosexuals need to “flaunt” it is because they live in a repressed society. The real problem is that if a normal looking gay couple just wanted to sit in a cafe and hold hands, they would be in danger of being verbally or maybe even physically abused. What they are really fighting for is the right to “flaunt” it just like you and or girlfriend and/or wife can. I suppose your response to that is why should they have that right because it is unnatural or they are biological mistakes. But how can a human emotion, urge or way of being be unnatural- it precisely because of biology that homosexuals are the way they are and you are the way you are. Well, you would argue, it is unnatural because a man and a man cannot reproduce. Although that is true, do you really believe that humans should define what is right or wrong only based on the ability to propagate? Furthermore, the very fact that they do not reproduce should assure all of those who are so worried that the world is going to be overrun by homosexual freaks. (As an aside- it is interesting that there always have be a small percentage of humans that are homosexual and probably always will be. I do wonder what the biological/evolutionary reason is for that.) Biology and right and wrong aside, why do people care so much about homosexuality? I mean, don’t they have more important things to worry about than protesting a gay parade? There simply is no evidence that homosexuals are any more likely to be pedophiles, murders, rapists, dishonest, corrupt, etc. than heterosexuals. So really what is the big deal? Yes, gays like sex with other men which seems weird to you (and me too for that matter), but there are plenty of heterosexuals that are into stuff that you and I would find strange. I guess the bottom line is, homosexuals are not more likely to harm than a heterosexual, so why make such a big fuss about them.

4. Judging from my experience growing up in San Francisco and living in New Orleans and New York, gay areas generally flourish economically. Why not let up on the gay hating in Latvia to at least get a bit of an economic boost?

5. With respect to state recognized marriage, I do not see anything sacred about it. State sanctioned marriage exists largely because it makes economic sense (although perhaps less so in certain societies today) and adds to the economic (and therefore social) stability of a society. If it is believed that marriage for heterosexuals is good for the state, then I think homosexual marriage is good for the state.