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Latvian President Insists on Homosexuality Inclusion in Workers’ Discrimination Law

By Gudrun Schultz

RIGA, Latvia, September 22, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga will approve the country’s new anti-discrimination labor law after homosexuality was added to a list including race, gender, age, disability, religious and political beliefs, a spokesperson said Friday.

The Latvian Parliament fought against the inclusion of homosexuality in the legislation that would outlaw discrimination in the workplace and in housing, voting to exclude sexual orientation from the list.

President Vike-Freiberga, who has been strongly defensive of homosexual activism in the country, refused in June to sign the legislation unless sexual orientation was included, the Baltic Times reported.

Following her initial veto, Parliament had the choice of either including the disputed protections, or passing the bill as it stood and resubmitting it to the president. If she had vetoed the measure a second time, Parliament could then have tried to override the veto.

Had the law passed without the inclusion of homosexuality, Latvia would have been the only member of the European Union lacking such legislation. The EU demands all member states institute laws explicitly banning discrimination on sexual orientation as a condition of membership in the Union.

Latvia has refused to follow the EU directives at several points since the country’s entrance to the Union. In December 2005 the Latvian Parliament voted overwhelmingly to amend the constitution for stronger protection of the country’s traditional definition of marriage, after a lower court ruled it was illegal to ban a gay pride parade in the city of Riga. Seventy-three of the 100-member parliament voted in favour of the measure.

See related LifeSiteNews coverage:

Latvian President Vetoes Anti-Discrimination Bill With “Sexual Orientation” Language Removed
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/jun/06062204.html

Latvian Parliament Overwhelmingly Supports Constitutional Protection for Traditional Marriage
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/dec/05120204.html

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