IT courses organized by the National LGBT rights organization LGL are ongoing and it will help young people under the age of 29 who are not studying and cannot find a job for a long period of time to find employment in the IT sector. The courses are implemented as part of the project “Direction Employment”,

R.I.S.E. Positive Role Model Campaign Encourages LGBTI Family Acceptance

R.I.S.E. invites all members of society to get to know and connect with LGBTI families and their daily struggles arising from the lack of both legal recognition and social acceptance. Personal stories allow to see the issues of family rights recognition through the eyes of LGBTI people and their loved ones while calling for development of the

LGBTI in Lithuania: Equality Priorities Remain in a Political Periphery

Unprecedented success of  Baltic Pride 2019 festival in Vilnius which brought together around 10 000 LGBTI people and their allies marked the beginning of certain positive changes towards LGBTI acceptance and equality.  However, even after LGBTI-friendly Liberal political powers secured their place in the ruling coalition in 2020, the pace of change leaves a lot to

LGL Executive Director Participated in RENEW Europe Online Webinar

On 4 March, 2021 Vladimir Simonko, Executive Director of the National LGBT rights organization LGL, participated in RENEW Europe online webinar “Enforcing LGBTI rights across the Union. Legislation and Litigation”. This webinar hosted by Sophie in ‘t Veld MEP discussed the application and enforcement of EU law and principles in the field of LGBTI rights. It

DRAG QUEEN TO REPRESENT LITHUANIA IN THE FIRST EVER EUROVISION FOR DRAG ARTISTS

Lithuania born Karolis Servetka, also known as Vanda Saiko, has been chosen from thousands to represent Lithuania in the first ever Eurovision Style TV show made exclusively for Drag Artists! The Contest will be shown across the globe and will feature 33 of Europe’s ‘best of the best’ in Drag Entertainment, hosted by Drag Race

Leaders of Lithuania’s Christian religious communities have issued a joint statement, opposing moves to ratify a document on fighting gender violence and to recognise same-sex unions. “Recently, several legislative initiatives that try to deny human nature and endanger the common good of the society have been a cause for concern,” they said in the statement.

Lithuanian companies and other organisations support LGBTIQ+ community

Seeing current tensions in Lithuania and an increasing volume of hate speech towards LGBTQ+ people, on Friday, March 5th members of Lithuanian Diversity Charter issued a statement supporting LGBTIQ+ community. Companies, public institutions and NGOs called for mutual respect in discussions on sensitive matters and sticking to facts and research rather than emotions. It is

LGBTI families still lack public support, survey results show

Survey by Baltijos tyrimai, implemented on 15-19 of January, 2021, reflected Lithuanian opinion on same-sex family rights.  While overall support remains very low, survey revealed certain new tendencies. 41% of respondents agreed that it is necessary to lay down laws regulating same-sex partners’ rights despite not agreeing that such relationship constitutes a family. Only 8 %

Recent homophobic attacks unite human rights opponents (Updated)

On February 19, 2021, press conference regarding the resignation of Tomas Vytautas Raskevičius, the openly homosexual chair of the Human Rights Committee, was held in the Lithuanian Parliament. Chair of the Human Rights Committee was attacked by unfounded claims of ‘traditional family values’ supporters who insisted on his resignation. These efforts included the petition for his resignation

Speaker of the Seimas and leader of ruling Liberals Movement of the Republic of Lithuania Party Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen faced criticism from conservative forces when she proposed to appoint Vytautas Mizaras, a lawyer who represented the local LGBT community in the court, as a judge of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania. Čmilytė-Nielsen informed

In January, IT courses organized by the National LGBT rights organization LGL started, which will help young people under the age of 29 who are not studying and cannot find a job for a long period of time to find employment in the IT sector. The courses are implemented as part of the project “Direction Employment”,

Lithuanian Anti-Gay Propaganda Provision Remains Intact

Newly elected Lithuanian Parliament led by a coalition of Conservative and Liberal powers swiftly, without much of a public debate, adopted amendments to the  Law on the Protection of Minors against the Detrimental Effect of Public Information on January 14, 2021. While these amendments introduced quite a few reasonable changes to the current regulation, it did not address the most controversial