Irish Ambassador Shows Support for LGBT* Community

Last Friday, national LGBT* rights organization LGL received an exclusive invitation from the Ambassador of Ireland to his residence for an official reception for human rights activists. David Noonan, the new ambassador, was received by Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaitė only a few weeks ago. One of his first objectives was to show support for LGBT*

An effective response to bullying at the international conference in Vilnius

National LGBT* rights organization LGL organized an international conference “Tackling Homophobic and Transphobic Bullying: Challenges and Effective Responses”, which took place in Vilnius on October 2, 2014. The presentations on homophobic and transphobic bullying were given by a team of international experts:  Marinus Schouten (GALE – the Global Alliance for LGBT* Education, the Netherlands), Michael Barron

Council of Europe criticizes Lithuania over failure to address gender reassignment

The Council of Europe has warned Lithuania over its failure to adopt laws that would allow gender reassignment surgeries. This week the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers, which monitors the implementation of rulings of the Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights, applied the so-called “enhanced supervision procedure” for Lithuania. The decision was taken after all earlier

Lithuanian representatives at the EuroPride 2014 in Oslo

On June 28, 2014, the EuroPride March took place in Oslo, the capital of Norway. The event gathered international LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons) as well as many of their supporters. The official number of participants still has to be confirmed, but it is likely to have exceeded last year’s participation to the

On July 8th, 2014 the Lithuanian Parliament Seimas considered the bill amendment to the Law on Public Registry No. XIP-2017(3).  Despite the fact that the bill consists of multiple amendments to the law in question, i.e. seeking to simplify the functioning of the public registry by enabling residents to submit inquires and to fill in

Two hateful crimes exposed in half a month

In the past two weeks Lithuania witnessed two hate crimes said to have been driven by homophobia. On June 24th an explosive device was thrown at singer Ruslanas Kirilkinas during his performance in Linksmakalnis village and on July 7th Agness Landau posted a status on her Facebook wall about the violence her friend had experienced

Prominent activists from Eastern Europe gather in Oslo for EuroPride

LLH – The Norwegian LGBT Organisation, Amnesty International and the Norwegian Helsinki Committee have launched an initiative to bring prominent LGBT activists from Eastern Europe together at EuroPride 2014 in Oslo, Norway. Uniting against the homophobic backlash in Eastern Europe, prominent LGBT activist from six countries will meet and develop common strategies at Pride House

LBTQI summer festival SAPFO FEST in Lithuania

‘Sapfo Fest’ is an independent community-initiated festival in the Baltics dedicated to LBTQI community. A community-led festival, the ‘Sapfo Fest’ seeks to empower LBTQI people and combat prejudice and discrimination, as well as to increase the visibility of LBTQI individuals in Lithuania. Whereas the visibility of gay men in Lithuania has been growing steadily and

The Lithuanian Office of the Inspector of Journalist Ethics concluded that two fairy tales that promote tolerance for same-sex couples are harmful to minors and should be marked by the index “N-14”. According to experts, stories written by the Lithuanian author Neringa Dangvydė violate the Law on the Protection of Minors against the Detrimental Effect

Chair of the Lithuanian Parliament Loreta Graužinienė and Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevičius presented the tasks for the spring session of the Parliament on Monday, March 10th. Four homophobic bills and amendments to the existing laws are scheduled for the session. At the spring session the parliamentarians will consider the amendment to the Code of Administrative

Parliamentarian Petras Gražulis horrified his European colleagues and made Lithuanians feel embarrassed. While attending the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe for the first time, he started openly praising Russia’s law banning “propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations” among minors. As journalists announced, P. Gražulis was encouraging all European countries to follow the Russian example.

Yesterday, the European Parliament voted its annual report on human rights in the world. The report reviews the situation of human rights (including the human rights of LGBTI persons) worldwide, and makes annual recommendations for EU action. Initially drafted by Eduard Kukan, a Slovak MEP from the EPP group, this year’s annual report was mostly