Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars
Rinkevics
announced Thursday that he's gay.
“I proudly announce I am gay … Good
luck all of you,” Rinkevics
messaged on Twitter.
In a tweet posted roughly an hour
earlier, Rinkevics
appeared to endorse civil unions for gay and lesbian couples.
“Our country has to create a legal
status for all kinds of partner relationships, and I will fight for
this,” the tweet said, according to a translation by The
Washington Post. “I know that there will quickly be
mega-hysteria, but #proudtobegay.”
Rinkevics'
is now the highest-profile openly gay politician in Eastern Europe.
The announcement is certain to create
tensions with neighboring Russia, which has mounted a crackdown
against the LGBT community at home and abroad, outlawing “gay
propaganda” to minors at home and prohibiting foreigners from
marriage equality countries to adopt Russian-born children.