Response from the Ministry of Education to an open letter

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The church's view on homosexuality will also be included in the textbook.

On Friday, to discuss this issue that has caused resonance in society, Minister of Education and Science Rolands Broks (Union of Greens and Farmers) and specialists of the National Centre for Education (VISC) met at the Ministry of Education and Science (IZM).

The alternative view is the church's view on homosexual relationships, said Bandeniece. “A fragment of expert Jolanta Cihanoviča's interview could be included in the textbook, but opposite it there had to be an alternative view - the church's view - in order to encourage students to discuss this topic,” Bandeniece informed about the result of the meeting discussion.

This means that the publishing house “Zvaigzne ABC” will have to supplement the textbook content. “The publishing house has been given the task of inserting an alternative view by July 1,” the ministry representative noted. The ministry has no objection to materials placed on the internet being used, but the views must be balanced, because “the task of social studies is to generate discussion”. The responsibility of the education workers who evaluated the content of this textbook will still be examined. Imants Vasmanis, head of the General Education Content Support Department of VISC, previously informed that the textbook “Social Studies for Grade 9”, published by “Zvaigzne ABC”, was approved in 2010 on the basis of opinions provided by two reviewers - a higher education lecturer and a practicing teacher.

It has already been reported that representatives of Latvian religious organizations, in an open letter to Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis (“Unity”) and the Minister of Education and Science, expressed protest about the content of a school textbook that discusses homosexuality. Page 187 of the book reportedly contains an interview with psychologist Jolanta Cihanoviča. The church and other signatories of the letter do not accept the psychologist's statement that doctors consider homosexuality a normal aspect of sexuality, that it is not a disease and that 8-10 percent of society are homosexually oriented people.

A request has also been sent to the minister by the association “For a Good Latvia”, which considers the material biased and also asks whether it is normal for textbook content to be formed by republishing an interview from news portals, as happened in this case.