From now on, if you ever want to put up rainbow-coloured posters or draw hearts and publicly elucidate that everyone has a right to love, be careful – that might get you fined. At least it appears so after witnessing reactions of Vilnius city officials to posters promoting Baltic Pride that were put up this
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A new ‘anti-propaganda’ law, similar to those recently enacted in Russia, was discussed and adopted away from public scrutiny and entered into force on 12 July. Politicians specifically sought to avoid debating the bill in public. Moldova’s Contravention Code now forbids the “distribution of public information […] aimed at the propagation of prostitution, paedophilia, pornography
Lithuania’s gay community on Monday denounced restrictions placed on television publicity for this month’s gay pride parade, saying they were akin to Russia’s so-called “gay propaganda” ban. The Baltic state’s broadcaster said it could air the advertisements only late in the evening with a parental advisory because they could be harmful to minors. Read more
IN THAT CASE, if the Court will confirm our right to march on the Gediminas Avenue, there will be NO REQUIREMENT for prior registration in order to participate in the Baltic Pride March for Equality on 27 July 2013. We will provide further information on the logistics of the march next week via our social
Setting an important legal precedent, Istanbul’s Criminal Court on Monday issued a landmark ruling against a religious Turkish newspaper for its use of anti-gay language, saying it illegally offended LGBT people. The court also stated that such language is not within the scope of freedom expression or press. The court ruled that the newspaper be prosecuted
The EU is one of the leading voices on LGBTI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex) equality, but Lithuania is way out of tune. Vilnius’ EU presidency began with a controversy on LGBTI issues when its head of state, Dalia Grybauskaite, faced tough questions from MEPs and media on Baltic Pride. Its EU chairmanship is
Today the European Ombudsman ruled in favour of the European Commission, which had been criticised for hosting an exhibition portraying same-sex couples. The Ombudsman said this was fully within the Commission’s powers. In 2011, the European Commission hosted an exhibition by ILGA-Europe calling for equal rights for LGBT people and their families. The ‘Different Families, Same Love’ exhibition had previously been
The Lithuanian Gay League (LGL) has appealed to the Inspector of Journalists’ Ethics against the Lithuanian National Radio and Television’s (LRT) decision to impose restrictions on advertising clips for a planned gay pride parade in Vilnius. LGL representative Tomas Vytautas Raskevičius told BNS that the LRT wants a clip to be broadcast with the ‘S’
Baltic Pride 2013 will take place 23-27 July in Vilnius. Though the March for Equality scheduled to take place on 27 July has received a lot of attention, it should not overshadow the rich variety of cultural programme of the week-long Pride festival. The exhibition “From Dusk till Dawn – 20 Years of LGBT Freedom
During an annual press conference, Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaitė commented on a number of topical issues, among which she expressed her stance on the EU-US data protection, gay parade in Vilnius, Lithuania’s participation in tackling youth unemployment and implementation of financial discipline. President Dalia Grybauskaite refused to comment on the LGBT parade until a court
Lithuania’s Interior Minister Juozas Bernatonis reassured members of the European Parliament that the upcoming LGBT pride parade is not banned in Lithuania, with disagreements continuing about the venue of the event. “You have received one-sided information. Please come, see and make sure that things are not what they are said to be,” the minister said
Vilnius City Municipality announced on Monday it would appeal against Vilnius Regional Administrative Court’s ruling, which ordered the municipality to make arrangements for a gay march to take place on the city’s central Gediminas Avenue. “Having analysed the court ruling and motives, the administration of Vilnius City Municipality Council decided to appeal against the court