Petition for same-sex marriage has been denied for the third time

Rival protest for same-sex marriage permit in Riga, Latvia.

On Thursday morning on the 8th of October, there are people protesting for support of same-sex marriage outside the building for Latvia’s parliament.

On the 30th of September at the sitting of the Parliament its participants decided to deny the amendent of law which allows to legalize and provides civil protection for same-sex marriages in the state of Latvia regarding on the petition which was signed by 10 392 citizens of Latvia.

Latvian state legislation provides that if there is a petition that has been signed by at least 10 000 citizens of Latvia on a website manabalss.lv it has a right to be considered in Parliament and taken into account. Despite everything the members of Parliament decided to deny this petition. Similar thing happenned in 2018 when Parliament denied petition about Cohabition law but in 2019 life Companion law was denied with 60 votes against, 23 for and one deputy decided to refrain.

“State has to protect the family”, “Real people, real families” and “I’m not the bitch of a system”, these are just a few of the headlines that ornaments on the protestors’s poster’s. “We know that 62% of Latvia’s citizens supports this. They are ignoring this discussion not because they haven’t noticed it but because they are afraid,” says the left political party deputy Daniels Pavluts.