Czech President Klaus Defends Aide’s Comments That First-Ever Gay Pride Parade In Prague Should Not Be Held And That Homosexuals Are “Deviant Fellow Citizens”

An update on a previous post, Czech President Vaclav Klaus has defended the controversial statements by his office deputy head Petr Hajek on a planned homosexual march in Prague, and he said the event should not be held under the auspices of the Prague mayor. Czech Happenings reported that Hajek wrote that the homosexual carnival is a pressure action and a political demonstration of a world with deformed values, and he also called homosexuals "deviant fellow citizens." Klaus writes in his statement released on his website www.klaus.cz. that the carnival is not a manifestation of homosexuality but "homosexual-ism" which he fears similarly like any other modern "-isms." Hajek sharply criticised Prague Mayor Bohuslav Svoboda (senior government Civic Democratic Party, ODS) and chairman of the Prague ODS branch Boris Stastny for having supported the planned homosexual event. The opposition Social Democrats and the junior government Public Affairs today called on Klaus to distance himself from Hajek´s statements. "I resolutely reject the demands voiced by the CSSD and the VV that I distance myself from the statements by Petr Hajek that he made in connection with Mayor Svoboda´s patronage of the Prague Pride event," Klaus said in reaction to the parties´ appeal. "Though the statements were not mine and I would probably choose slightly different words, I do not feel any pride in the event either," Klaus says. According to Klaus, Hajek is not protesting against the march alone but against the fact that this event is held under the auspices of the mayor, and possibly some political entities in the country. "One thing is to tolerate it, but to express public support on behalf of a significant institution is something completely different," Klaus writes. It is a mere matter of semantics to argue with Hajek´s use of the word "deviation" in connection with homosexuals, Klaus notes, adding that he considers the word deviation neutral. "In any case, homosexuality is a considerably minority phenomenon, and it deserves our protection as such, but not necessarily our apotheosis," Klaus writes. Svoboda said he insists on the event being held under his auspices. He said he rejected any classification of people according to their race, religion or sexual orientation. "Such classification proved to be more than pernicious in the past," Svoboda said. Prague 1st district mayor Oldrich Lomecky who is also a patron of the festival said his patronage is no preference but tolerance. Lomecky rejected Hajek´s opinions. "These are claustrophobic views and the top of the iceberg is (Norwegian terrorist Anders Behring) Breivik. This view leads to intolerance," Lomecky pointed out. Stastny said people may have different views on the mayor´s patronage but he added he considers unacceptable to label homosexuality a deviation. Thirteen Prague-seated embassies, including those of Britain, Germany and the United States, expressed support to the Prague Pride. The British Embassy said this support had nothing to do with Klaus and Hajek´s stances. The five-day Prague Pride Festival of Tolerance to be held by the gay and lesbian community for the first time in Prague on August 10-14 will culminate with a carnival parade in the centre on Saturday, August 13. The festival is held under the aegis of Svoboda and Prague 1 (the city's historical centre) Mayor Oldrich Lomecky.