Latvian Foreign minister tweets he is gay, seen as big step for gay rights in Eastern Europe

Latvian Foreign minister tweets he is gay, seen as big step for gay rights in Eastern Europe
Latvian Foreign minister tweets he is gay, seen as big step for gay rights in Eastern Europe
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The News Minute| November 7, 2014| 12.30 pm IST

Edgars Rinkevics, Latvia’s Foreign Minister tweeted on Thursday that he is gay. And no, his account wasn’t hacked.

Latvin media confirmed that the Minister’s account wasn’t hacked. Rinkevics tweeted :

Latvia is one of the few countries in the European Union with a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. Reports say that the country even advanced a bill which banned sex education curriculum from teaching that same sex stories are equal to regular ones.

Washington Post says the minister's stand has given gay rights advocates a prominent voice in post-Soviet Eastern Europe. "The region — where openly gay public figures are a rarity — has significantly lagged behind the United States and Western Europe in its acceptance of same-sex relationships," says the report.

Amidst this, Rinkevics statement is something the international community is eagerly observing.

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