On 21st-22nd March, 2019 Eglė Kuktoraitė, Communications Manager at the National LGBT rights organization LGL, participated at a peer-to-peer round table on policies to address SOGIESC-based* violence in the education sector, held in Council of Europe field office in Venice. The event aimed at launching the Council of Europe report (produced in partnership with UNESCO)
- Lithuanian Constitutional Court: Residence Permits to a Spouse or Partner cannot be Denied on the Basis of Sexual Orientation
- Homophobic Leaflet Urging to Sign a Petition to Ban the Baltic Pride Distributed in Lithuania
- Change in Attitudes Requires Openness and Courage, Says Homosexual Police Officer from Sweden
- Human Rights Discourse in Public Sphere: Effective Response to Hate Speech in Media
- Lithuanian television refuses to broadcast a music video containing same-sex couples
Lithuanian Constitutional Court: Residence Permits to a Spouse or Partner cannot be Denied on the Basis of Sexual Orientation
On January 11, 2019 the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania held a public hearing on the case determining whether Constitutional provisions regarding freedom of movement of family members apply for same-sex couples. In its judgement the Constitutional Court stressed that refusal to issue a temporary residence permit to stay in Lithuania to a
Homophobic Leaflet Urging to Sign a Petition to Ban the Baltic Pride Distributed in Lithuania
Lithuanian NGO “Christian Culture Institute”, funded by Polish Piotr Skarga fund, started to distribute homophobic leaflets urging to sign a petition to ban the upcoming Baltic Pride march to every single post box in Lithuania. The National LGBT rights organization LGL received the first messages from LGBT community members informing about the leaflets in the
Change in Attitudes Requires Openness and Courage, Says Homosexual Police Officer from Sweden
Recently, Lithuanian police officers had a unique opportunity to meet with two representatives from the Stockholm Police Department: Hate Crime Unit inspector and founder of the Swedish LGBT Police Association Göran Stanton and Criminal Investigation Unit expert Jonas Jonzon. The event took place in Kaunas and is a part of “Come Forward: Empowering and Supporting
Human Rights Discourse in Public Sphere: Effective Response to Hate Speech in Media
On October 19, 2018, the National LGBT rights organization LGL organized a unique international seminar where participating researchers, experts and public opinion leaders had the opportunity to discuss the main challenges faced by human rights activists in Lithuania, Belarus and Ukraine. During the seminar, participants discussed the impact of hate speech, propaganda and other forms
Lithuanian television refuses to broadcast a music video containing same-sex couples
On November 6 2018, celebrating their 20th anniversary, a well-known Lithuanian pop-rock band Skamp released a new single “Love Me Like There’s No Tomorrow” alongside a heart-warming music video. Lithuanian television refused to broadcast the music video portraying same-sex couples showing affection raising concerns over the censorship law. Ever since their career took off back in
Intolerance and societal discrimination remained persistent in Lithuania during the last year, according to the annual report of the U.S. Department of State. Regarding the freedom of expression and freedom of press, the report continues to mention that it is illegal to publish material that is “detrimental to minors’ bodies or thought processes” or that
The National LGBT rights organization LGL, organizers of the “Baltic Pride” 2019 launched a new mobile application dedicated for the festival, which will be held in Vilnius from 4th to 9th of June. The app is designed to help festival participants learn about all the events, get to know speakers and performers, interact with other
Sir Ian McKellen (79), a British veteran actor and an LGBT human rights activist, recorded a video greeting inviting everyone to join the Baltic Pride March For Equality in Vilnius on June 8th. In his video, „The Lord of the Rings“ and „The Hobbit“ star emphasizes the political significance of the Baltic Pride 2019 march
On 15th March, 2018 the main Lithuanian news portal “15min” announced that all the news and events about the “Baltic Pride” 2019 will be announced in the portal. Until June, “15min” in their special section will share the stories of LGBT community and during the week of the event the media channel will organize photo-reports,
The National LGBT rights organization LGL is proud to announce the annual report for 2018. Transparency and independence from any political or financial interests are one of the most important goals for our organization in order to achieve effective inclusion and social integration of local LGBT community. LGL’s annual report for 2018 comprehensively presents organization’s
From February 17th to 18th, 2019, National LGBT Rights Organization LGL hosted a meeting with Finnish LGBTI organization Seta, its partner in the project Rainbow Rights: Promoting LGBTI Equality in Europe. During the meeting, representatives of the organizations discussed the challenges of ageism in the LGBT community, and shared best practices for solving this problem.
On February 14-15th, 2019 the first meeting between partners in the project Direction Employment took place in Sofia, Bulgaria. During the meeting, partners from Bulgaria, Italy, Portugal, Ireland and Lithuania discussed future project activities. The project will seek to create a new educational model to combat unemployment among youth, utilizing progressive methods and interactive practices
1 in 4 Lithuanians disagree that gay, lesbian, bisexual and trans people should be free to live their own life as they wish. The National LGBT rights organization LGL, based in Lithuania, announces the initiatives “Hatred is not a Family Value” and “Identify and Report”. Through a series of public events planned for the coming months,
The fourth evaluation on the EU Code of Conduct shows that this Commission initiative delivers successful results. IT companies are now assessing 89% of flagged content within 24 hours and 72% of the content deemed to be illegal hate speech is removed, compared to 40% and 28% respectively when the Code was first launched in
On January 21, 2019, Eglė Kuktoraitė, Communications Manager at the National LGBT rights organization LGL, participated in a meeting at the “Twitter” headquarters in Dublin (Ireland), attended by the representatives of the European Commission, social networks and European NGOs. During the meeting the representatives of “Google+”, “Facebook”, “Instagram”, “Twitter” and “Youtube” discussed the results of
On January 17-19, 2019 the National LGBT rights organization LGL, together with its partner “Cavaria” (Belgium) organized a kick-off meeting for the project “Speak Out” in Vilnius. “Speak Out” project aims to alleviate the problem of underreporting of anti-LGBT hate crime and hate speech by creating sustainable change. By raising awareness and equipping LGBT individuals