Index claims Latvia the worst place to be gay in EU

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Latvia is the worst country in the EU to be an LGBTI citizen, according to an index by the gay rights organisation ILGA, reported EurActiv Wednesday.

The Rainbow Europe 2016 index, published May 10, looked at how European laws and policies affect lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex people and ranked the 49 European nations accordingly.

Among EU member states, Latvia scored the lowest - 17% - in terms of legal equality, followed by Lithuania and Poland, which both scored 18%. Estonia scored 36%. 

Only three EU countries, Malta, Belgium and the UK, met above 80% of ILGA’s criteria for legal equality.

According to EurActiv, ILGA said the reason why Latvia ended up at the bottom of the table was partly due to the country’s introduction of a "morality clause" to the school curriculum under its Education Law.

Latvia hosted the 2015 EuroPride, the first post-Soviet state to do so. 

According to the Eurobarometer Discrimination in the EU in 2015 survey, 23% of Latvians say there's nothing wrong in a sexual relationship between two people of the same sex and 19% think that same-sex marriage should be allowed across Europe. The EU average rates are 67% and 61% respectively.

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