IHT: Czech Pres. unusually isolated in opposition to gay parade

The International Herald Tribune (IHT) has reported that Czech President Václav Klaus has become “more isolated than usual” due to his criticism of the Prague Pride gay rights parade. An imbroglio over the event, which was attended this past weekend by 5 000 people, has put Klaus in opposition to practically the entire Czech political spectrum and led to a public dispute with the US ambassador, the paper reported.

“Even the unreformed communists, who received 11 % of the vote in the last elections, took a more progressive stance on this issue than Klaus, who spoke in defense of the traditional family and loudly voiced his opposition to what he called ‘homosexualism’,” IHT reports. The daily went on to note that the president, who enjoys fulminating against various “-isms”, claimed he is not opposed to homosexuality. “However, he emphasized that it should be tolerated, not celebrated,” the IHT reported. The Paris-based daily is available worldwide.

The IHT also reported that Klaus’s statements on various topics often receive a decent amount of public support in the Czech Republic. However, in the case of Prague Pride, the president had few allies beyond the ultra-right politician Ladislav Bátora and an advisor on his own staff.

Bátora, who is also a highly-placed official at the Czech Education Ministry, took what the IHT called the unusual step of sharply attacking US Ambassador Norman Eisen, who had supported the gay rights parade in an open letter signed by 12 other diplomats. “It wasn’t clear why he singled out the American, because the letter was initiated by the British Embassy and signed by ambassadors from Canada and European countries from Estonia to Spain,” the IHT reports.

The paper noted that registered partnership for same-sex couples has been legal in the Czech Republic since 2006, even though gays and lesbians are not permitted to adopt children. The daily also reported that Klaus’s remarks did not seem to spark any open displays of homophobia. A march held Sunday in support of the traditional family attracted only about 200 people. However, the IHT reported that gay rights remain under attack in the Central and Eastern European region. Police have attacked gay rights marches in Moscow, for example, while right-wing extremists attacked one in Belgrade. In Poland, verbal assaults against homosexuals have also reportedly escalated into violence.