On September 5th, 2017 the Lithuanian news portal “Delfi.lt” published an article on ideological views of some Lithuanian Government officials. Kristina Paulikė, an advisor of Linas Kukuraitis, the Minister of Social Affairs and Labour of the Republic of Lithuania, has secured a place among them. Prior to her appointment at the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour of the Republic of Lithuania, Ms. Paulikė was mainly known for her homophobic views and support for “traditional” family values.
The official of the Ministry that is directly responsible for shaping and implementing policies of equal opportunities has previously expressed her anti-LGBT* views on numerous occasions. Ms. Paulikė drew attention of the public in 2015, when she as a founder of “Western Lithuania Parent Forum” participated in a rally next to the Embassy of Norway in Vilnius in order to protest against the decision by the Norwegian Child Welfare Service “Barnevernet” to place a child of Lithuanian emigrants under the care of Norwegian same-sex couple.
The advisor of the Minister of Social Affairs and Labour then publicly argued for “traditional” family values and fought against the Norwegian Child Welfare Service, which, according to her, were “taking away Lithuanian children from good parents”. Ms. Paulikė has also been very active in opposing the resolution by the European Parliament on combating homophobia and discrimination based on sexual orientation.
According to the advisor of the Minister of Social Affairs and Labour, she was browsing internet in order to find flight tickets to emigrate from Lithuania, when she received a phone call from the Minister inviting her to become his advisor. “I was sitting by the computer and looking for the low-fare tickets, and suddenly I received the Minister’s call. I thought that perhaps it would be worth staying and using an opportunity to change some laws and solve various problems, especially social ones, which we have plenty, and help Lithuanian families,” explained Ms. Paulikė.
Since her appointment as the advisor of the Minister of Social Affairs and Labour, Ms. Paulikė used more politically correct rhetoric regarding the rights of same-sex partners. The advisor claimed that she does not support equal marriage, but her position on same-sex partnership is “more liberal”. “From a political point of view, I think that the elected members of the Parliament should make a decision on this issue. I believe that everyone has the right to have a variety of opportunities and, obviously, they need to be evaluated. Introduction of the law is absolutely possible. I think that in principle same-sex partnership is similar to business arrangements,” argued the advisor of the Minister of Social Affairs and Labour.
