Ms. Allen,

Thank you so very much for this posting. In an earlier posting (in that Britain is so far ahead of the United States in her laws) I felt UK particularly had turned the corner on these problems.

Let's face it: Kids are Cruel in Screwel. I feel informed in a manner I would otherwise not have been informed. I would love your comment on whether or not you believe (or there is any research linking) violent videogames and television to these childhood problems.

As to eastern europe, I have never visited Latvia, Estonia, Lituania or Bulgaria. In Hungary I found warm acceptance of Gay people individually in Budapest, Moscow and St. Petersburgh, but I was not in a Gay Pride march either. Thank you so very much for your insights.

I just remembered Romania, there was a lot of fear there.

Thanks for updating us Kate. We'll be doing a post on IDAH ourselves, but you've laid out a great groundwork that we can build upon. Please keep us updated and stop by to visit and guest post often.

One way we, in the USA, can help is not to visit these countries, along with Jamaica, when we are planning our vacations this year. There are LGBT-friendly countries to visit, and I would avoid the following:

Latvia
Croatia
Hungary
Poland
Romania
Russia
Jamaica

There may be others as well.

So what can we do? What does "lobbying governments" entail?

Something tells me that a decrease in American gay tourism to Russia isn't going to collapse its economy, or that we'll be successful in getting the European gays to stop going to Croatia. Moreover, if it did have a dent on the problem, the situation is cultural, not political, in a lot of these countries, and most people don't have tourist dollars on the mind.

Ok, When I was in Romania they had just passed a "decriminalization" of homosexual acts that our hetero tour guide (but Gay friendly man) included in the remarks made to the entire bus load of people on our particular "Eastern European Treasures" tour.

Alex, the reason Kate Allen can be effective is that EU countries have a mandate to provide full rights and recognition to all persons. Many countries like Spain, where once you could be sent to prison, now have partner recognition with full government and business benefits for couples.

They also work with governments that "wannabe" in the EU for all the benefits financially. Poland is already a member and if they want to do business with Germany and France they had best get their house in order. There is no way to protect against individual acts of ignorance wherever you go.

My cardinal rule, whenever I travel, is to remember that I am a guest in another country. With the exception of an American in China there has never been an issue when my partner and I have traveled. We are also guests that are spending money so we should be well treated.

Eh? I live in Latvia and I don't feel that people had homophobic thoughts and opinions, but, there are still many people who are having them. The youth is mainly accepting people, no matter what are they like, with the exception of some weak-minded individuals. Give us time. Saying that homosexuals should be allowed to make "prides", is clearly not working with our still sovietised society. A clear reason why they are making those parades, could clear the confusion of the masses.

Religious people are also against gay and lesbian activities in Latvia.

And, speaking of Russia, if you would meet there, ehmmm, it would be not just dangerous, it would be stupid, and Latvia is certainly not the worst thing that could happen to you all.