Latvia celebrated IDAHOT 2014 with an “express yourself” photo booth in Riga. Allies and families of LGBT activists constituted a big part of the crowd.

LGBT activists and their friends at MOSAIC organization invited community members and supporters to Riga on May 17 to express themselves however you want, in support of the LGBT community.

This year’s celebrations also included a photo session in the Old Town streets and at various key sites in Riga. The photo booth was made public on the internet via a hashtag campaign. The use of internet campaigning was symbolic in this case – designed to raise awareness of the fact that a significant level of homophobic and transphobic abuse takes place online.

The “Fotografēsimies” campaign showed that despite homophobic and transphobic expressions against LGBT people, and their friends and supporters, activists in Latvia manage to maintain a celebrating attitude towards life, and keep striving for a society in which all people are respected and treated as equal, regardless of gender, sexual orientation, national origin or religious belief.

Further information

• Mosaic Orgnization (in Latvian): Facebook page

Organisers advised before the event: ‘On May 17, LGBT and their friends association MOZAIKA is organizing flashmob on the International Day Against Homophobia. There will be a hugging and kissing flashmob on Friday, May 17 at 6:30 pm, in the square between McDonald?s and the Monument of Freedom. MOZAIKA invites everyone to come and hug your loved one, your mom, cousin, daughter, relative, friend, coworker or a simple passerby, to demonstrate that LGBTQ people have the right to be visible and the right to publicly hug their loved ones. It is to show that LGBTQ people have the right to express their emotions not only in bedrooms, away from the public eye, but also by the Monument of Freedom. Association MOZAIKA and youth group SKAPIS have been organizing IDAHO flashmobs for several years now. So again, lets join our forces by hugging (or kissing if you will) on May 17, at 6:30 pm, to show the Latvian and international society that LGBTQ people do not have to hide in bedrooms. Come whoever you are, regardless of your age, gender or sexual orientation.’

For more details please see the facebook event page.