The Dutch ambassador to Tallinn, Hans Glabitz, has decided to leave his mission to Estonia due to "persistent racist and homophobic abuse," BBC reports. Glaubitz is openly gay and lives with his coloured Cuban partner.The problem has not been on an official level. The Estonian foreign ministry is, to the opposite, careful to point out that the couple has been well received at an official level. Instead, Glaubitz decision is due to widespread public homophobia in Estonia. According to Glaubitz, the couple has been constantly harassed in public by skinheads and drunkards with homophobic and racist remarks.
The Glaubitz case regrettably demonstrates the kind of homophbia still latent in many East European countries. That even a foreign ambassador finds his posting to a fellow European country unbearable, shows how profound a clash in cultures may be between the liberal Netherlands and relatively conservative Estonia.
