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Homophobia entrenched in Belarusian government, activist says

Homophobia is deeply entrenched in the Belarusian government, gay rights activist Maksim Haykow told reporters in Minsk on Friday.

Mr. Haykow linked the government's homophobia to the "opinion of one person." "And the entire government has a habit of listening to this man," he said in a likely reference to Alyaksandr Lukashenka.

Another activist, Natallya Mankowsaya, said that the abuse of gay rights was on the rise in Belarus.

She referred to a series of police raids targeting LGBT parties in Minsk earlier this year. A total of 47 people were taken to police stations as a result of these raids from January through March. Police later informed their employers or the administrations of their schools about their involvement in LGBT rights activism.

Belarus remains the only country participating in the European Union's Eastern Partnership that has no registered gay rights organization, said Ms. Mankowskaya.

Rodolphe Richard, head of the Political, Press and Information Section at the European Union’s Delegation to Belarus who attended the news conference, said that the EU was against discrimination based on sexual orientation and called on the Belarusian authorities to secure freedom of association and expression for all civil society groups. //BelaPAN