On July 8th Edgars Rinkevics he became president of his country, the first to have an openly gay head of state in the European Union. Class 1973, a degree in History and Philosophy from the University of Latvia and a past as a journalist at Latvian Radio covering foreign policy and international relations. In 1997 she becomes first Deputy Secretary of State for Defense and then Secretary of State, and in 2002 he will be deputy head of delegation in the negotiations that led to Latvia’s entry into NATO. A career that in 2011 led him to the foreign affairs in the center-right government of Valdis Dombrovskis. The same year the liberal-conservative inspired party was born Unit to which Dombrovskis himself adheres and, in 2014 of the 46 percent of votes in the European elections, also Rinkevics. Also in 2014 he decides to do coming out and has been a firm supporter of LGBTQIA+ rights ever since.
He took an oath to Riga and in his inaugural address he promised to continue supporting the ongoing war effort of theUkraine against the Russia. He said Latvia’s foreign policy “has no time for mistakes”, adding that it will act “quickly, decisively and wisely”. Rinkevics then encouraged Latvian youth to “break the glass ceiling“, calling inequality a “significant problem”. “The social gap in our society is too big,” he said, “during my presidency I will fight for the creation of a modern and strong Latvia, for a legal and just Latvia, for people’s well-being, for an inclusive and respectful. And it is possible for all of us to achieve this by working together.”
Rinkevics is the new President of a country where homosexuality has been illegal up to thirty years ago and gay marriage still is, even though last year the country’s Constitutional Court recognized same-sex unions. Rinkevics’ election therefore has a strong symbolic value. Even for the European Union, which has already had openly gay heads of government, but never a head of state. Rinkevics was elected by the Latvian parliament in the third round of voting last May. He takes the place of Egils Levits, who served as president for four years, will represent Latvia at the NATO summit next week in Vilnius, Lithuania. In 2019 he received from Italy the title of Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic and as Minister of Foreign Affairs of Latvia he was received in the Vatican by Pope francesco last March 14, 2022 (photo).
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