Raül Romeva i Rueda

Pride London, as anyone who has attended the event in recent years will know, is no longer a political event. "Gone are the days when we had to shake our fists at Westminster," says Jason Pollock, Pride chief executive. "Instead, Pride London is a celebration and a very large one at that. We are now the second-biggest event in London next to the Notting Hill Carnival, with last year having seen crowds of 600,000." While similarly positive tales can be told of Pride events in most other Western European countries, many cities in Eastern Europe are lagging far behind. Moscow is among those that have gone as far as banning a gay pride parade altogether. When gay activists last month protested against this ruling, nationalists chanted "death to homosexuals", while throwing kicks, punches and eggs at the protestors. Even the police were accused by some of colluding with the anti-gay protestors. Among those assaulted was the rights campaigner Peter Tatchell and Richard Fairbrass, lead singer of Right Said Fred.

Last year, Riga painted a similar picture. With the very first Pride in Latvia’s capital city in 2005 having been marred by violent protestors, Riga’s authorities decided – like Moscow’s – to ban the event in 2006. But this year, a more optimistic scene suddenly emerged, with the city enjoying a peaceful march on 3 June. It is no coincidence, say organisers of the event, that Pride London had taken the decision to "twin" with Riga Pride prior to the event.

"With Pride London now being a celebratory rather than just a political event, we decided to put some effort into helping Eastern European countries get to the same point," explains Pollock. "We chose Riga on the grounds that we would prefer to try to make a real difference to homophobia in one city before tackling the rest."

The story began last year, when Pride London held a conference in London entitled Prides Against Prejudice. "We had realised there was a vast disparity between the rights of gay and lesbian people in the UK and in Eastern Europe, and the conference aimed to address this. It was there that we made the decision about Riga."

Pollock explains that the signing of a joint statement of unity between Pride London and Riga Pride had several objectives. First, to help put a media spotlight on the "medieval views" held by many Latvians and second, to show gay and lesbian people in Riga that they are not alone in their fight for equality. "We also wanted to show Latvia, through our own example, the massive economic advantages that a city can gain from an annual Pride event. I think if Riga realised the massively lucrative ‘pink pound’ travel market, they would sure as hell welcome Pride."

There was also the likelihood that if Pride London was seen to support the event, other gay men and women from across Europe might journey to Latvia to show unity – and this did happen. "We just had to come here," one German visitor told UK Gay News on the Pride march. "The Latvian gays have had terrible experiences at the last two Prides, so this is my way of telling them that they are not forgotten. We are gay and we are Europeans – it’s all about solidarity."

Riga Pride also enjoyed support from many other organisations, including Stockholm Pride and Amnesty International.

Pollock adds that the "twinning" provided an opportunity for Pride London to invite members of the Metropolitan Police to give presentations on the way homophobia and hate crimes are addressed in London. Police from Stockholm also gave a similar address.

Despite his optimism, however, Pollock admits he felt more than a little concerned when violence erupted at the banned protest in Moscow the week before the planned march in Riga. "We knew we faced the same level of hostility in Riga," he says.

Indeed, the No Pride group staged a counter-event nearby – a rock concert and rally with the title "World Against Homosexuality". Organisers had predicted an attendance of 10,000.

But when the big day arrived, just 1,500 attended the counter-event, while around 1,200 gay and lesbian people – more people than ever before – marched for Pride. Kristine Garina of Mozaika, the Pride organisers, points out that this is a far cry from 2005, when 70 people marched and thousands protested. "I don’t think so many local people would have attended if they didn’t know beforehand that there would be such huge support for them from Pride London," she says. "I think people always fear they will be the only ones if they come to the march, but because of Pride London’s support, they knew it would be well attended."

Among the marchers were politicians from countries ranging from Spain to Finland. One – Raul Romeva, a vice president of the European Parliament’s Intergroup for gay and lesbian rights – called the event a "marvellous achievement", although he admitted that the event was not like most Prides around the world. It was essentially a walk round Vermanes Gardens, which was completely sealed off with very tight security, leading some participants – including Romeva – to report that it was a bit like "being in a zoo". But the main thing, agreed everyone, was that it happened and that it was peaceful. In fact, many referred to it as "the first real gay parade in Riga".

Unlike in Moscow, and indeed in Riga two years previously, the police could not be praised enough by the gay and lesbian community. "The police forces were totally amazing," says Garina. "Of course there were incidents and there were problems, but police dealt with them and we felt genuinely safe. I hope it will encourage more people to come next year."

There was a scary moment when some explosives were thrown into the crowd at the end, she admits. "But it turned out to be firecrackers and the guys who did it were quickly arrested," she says.

Surprisingly perhaps, Garina believes that most people in Latvia are indifferent to homosexuality. The exception to this, she says, is a small group of radical organisations "that simply make a lot of noise" and more concerning still, the Catholic Church, some members of which "are agitating against homosexuality quite actively". "Last year, several religious leaders declared ‘war on homosexuality’ in Latvia and the number of people who are influenced by such religious leaders is worrying," she says.

But counteracting this is the sea change in attitudes among politicians in Latvia, she says. "The week before Pride, the prime minister was on the news talking about it and it was radically different from what he said two years ago on the same subject. Back then, he said it’s unacceptable that things like Pride were going on in our Christian country. But this year, he talked of our human rights to march and democracy. Quite a change!"

Garina is clearly confident about the future for gay and lesbian people in Latvia. "Pride London is like a guest from the future for us – how things will be in five or 10 years time," she says.

Pollock hopes she is right: "Latvia has flagrantly disregarded the rules of the EU in its treatment of gay and lesbian people, with its views straight out of the dark ages. The country simply can’t enjoy the benefits of the EU without obeying the rules and I sincerely hope we are helping them see that."

Font foto: Bordeaux Pride