The history of the Mosaic alliance of LGBT people and their friends began in the summer of 2005, after events surrounding the Rīga Pride 2005 event sent shock waves not only throughout Latvian society, but also worldwide.  Extremely negative attitudes expressed by members of government, church leaders and several well known individuals showed that despite the development and strengthening of democracy in Latvia over the last 15 years, something is still not right in society.

One of the main conclusions to be drawn was that during all of those years, there had never been any strategic dialogue with the public at large or with legislators, and as a result of this, one segment of society enjoyed no legal or social protections.

Beginning in September 2005, there were several informal meetings, bringing together 25 to 30 people of very different professions.  It was decided to establish a new organisation, one with the aim of promoting a higher level of awareness and better understanding of the fact that there are different sexual orientations in society.  Our aim was to promote the legal rights and social integration of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in Latvia.

Even before the meeting at which Mosaic was officially founded, a large-scale project which attracted much public and media attention was carried out – this despite the fact that the organisation had minimal resources at its disposal.  There was a campaign called “Write to the President and Tell Her to Say No to Homophobia!”  During this campaign, in record time, nearly 2,000 signatures were collected to protest against a constitutional amendment which defined marriage as exclusively a union between one man and one woman.  We urged the president to reject this amendment.  She didn’t.

The constitutional amendment was pointless in legal terms, as Article 35.2 of the Latvian Civil Code already prohibited same-gender marriage.  It is also true that the amendment was proposed because of one political party’s unacceptably discriminatory and populist ambitions.  By approving the amendment, Latvia took a stew toward institutionalised discrimination, thus ignoring Latvia’s EU-related and human rights obligations.  To wit:

• Upon acceding to the Council of Europe, Latvia acceded to the European Human Rights Convention, in which Article 12 bans discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation;
• The European Court of Human Rights has ruled (in Karner v. Austria, 2003) that the Convention protects the right of single-gender partners to family life, thus establishing a legal precedent which makes it clear that discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation is a violation of the Convention;
• Article 13 of the founding treaty of the European Communities states one of the fundamental principles of the EU – a ban against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation;
• Similarly, Article 21 of the European Union’s Charter of Human Rights bans all discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation;
• EU Directive 2000/78/EC on equal rights in employment specifies that EU member states must ban discrimination in the field of employment which is based on sexual orientation;
• Directive 2004/38/EC recognises single-gender partners and awards them equal rights in one of the fundamental principles of the EU – free movement within the Union;

On December 21, 2005, after a stressful few days of campaigning, a letter with almost 2,000 signatures was submitted to the President of Latvia.  The organisers of the campaign realised that by merging strengths, efforts and resources, much can be achieved.  This conviction was reaffirmed on February 18, 2006, when 16 activists established a new organisation.  Very soon, others began to join Mosaic – LGBT people, their friends, supporters, family members and representatives of other non-governmental organisations.

On February 19, information about the establishment of the new organisation appeared on electronic news outlets such as www.leta.lv, www.apollo.lv, www.delfi.lv and www.tvnet.lv.  Mosaic’s founders were prepared for the negative and hateful comments which some people made on these portals, and this only strengthened our determination to carry out further work in pursuit of our goals.

The first publication by Mosaic was published on the public policy portal www.politika.lv.  This led to further media interest, and Mosaic was, in a sense, “dragged out of the closet.”  Mosaic’s founders believe that all of this has demonstrated that while people in Latvia are prepared for LGBT people to come out, they still do not want to accept them.

The first official Mosaic presentation took place on February 23, 2006, at a seminar called “Civil Society Against Intolerance.”  It was organised by the Latvian Centre for Human Rights and Ethic Studies.  Linda Freimane, a Mosaic board member, presented an overview of LGBT organisations in Latvia, including Mosaic.  Another presenter at the seminar was Hans Ytterberg, Sweden’s ombudsman against discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation.  Mr Ytterberg was once a judge who worked in the field of anti-discrimination efforts at the EU level.

On March 10, Mosaic was officially registered in the Register of Non-Governmental Organisations.  Work is continuing on the group’s Web site, which was launched in mid-April.

We are grateful to the few people who have fought bravely for the rights of LGBT people over the previous years, and value their contributions highly.  Because of their work, our numbers are much greater today.  We are ready to come out.