Police Department against Baltic Pride on main street of Vilnius

Lithuanian Gay League (LGL), main organizer of Baltic Pride 2013, in January appealed the Vilnius City Administration’s decision to issue a permit for the Pride Parade to be held in the isolated location of Upės Street, requesting once again permission for Gedimino Avenue, the main street of Vilnius. In response to the complaint made by

PACE LGBT freedom of expression Conference in Polish Parliament

The freedom of expression for LGBT people conference organized by the Committee on Equality and Non-Discrimination of the PACE will take place in the Conference Room Dom Poselski in the Polish Parliament in Warsaw. The opening session will start with the a welcome speech by the Chair of the Conference, Ms Tina Acketoft, Chairperson of

The European Parliament wants to outlaw homophobic crime and speech in the EU

Today the European Parliament adopted a non-binding resolution on strengthening the fight against racism, xenophobia and hate crime. The text calls on the European Commission to add homophobia and transphobia to the list of EU-sanctioned hate speech and violence. Since a 2008 Framework Decision, the European Union foresees specific, higher penalties for racist and xenophobic speech and

Lithuanian Parliament will not host LGBT conference

The Board of the Parliament has not allowed organizing an international conference on the parliamentary premises, which was dedicated towards the protection of sexual minorities’ rights. The main argument behind this decision is that there is a lack of human resources for other events, which are not related to the Lithuanian Presidency of the Council

Lord Mayor of Copenhagen: City of Vilnius must support Baltic Pride

Lord Mayor of Copenhagen, Mr. Frank Jensen, has approached Mayor of Vilnius, Mr. Arturas Zuokas, to express his support for Baltic Pride 2013 and concern over some organizational issues regarding the Pride Parade. Lord Mayor Jensen has learned from Lithuanian Gay League (LGL) that Baltic Pride is facing some challenges in communication with the Vilnius

The Lituania President has said that she thought that discussions on civil partnerships for gay couples were “premature”. Dalia Grybauskaite said the discussions on the introduction of same-sex civil partnerships in the country were premature, but did not give her personal opinion on the issue, reports 15min. She said: “I think these discussions in Lithuania are very

LGL appeals against restriction to freedom of assembly

On Friday, 15 February 2013, the Lithuanian Gay League (LGL) lodged a complaint before the Vilnius Regional Administrative Court against the unilateral decision by the Vilnius City Municipality to relocate the Baltic Pride 2013 March for Equality from the central avenue in the downtown of Vilnius to rather isolated and inaccessible area on the riverbank.

Baltic Pride must go ahead without hindrance

Amnesty International wrote to the Mayor of Vilnius to express its deep concerns with regard to the restrictions imposed by Vilnius municipal authorities on the Baltic Pride 2013, whose march is planned to take place on 27 July on the main city avenue. Amnesty International believes that the restrictions imposed by the Vilnius municipality authorities

Efraim Zuroff: Lithuania should be inclusive of all its peoples

At a press conference held today in Vilnius, Efraim Zuroff, director and coordinator of Nazi war crimes research worldwide at the Simon Wiesenthal Center office in Jerusalem, condemned neo-Nazi marches planned this winter in the Baltic States, one of which will take place in Kaunas tomorrow on Lithuania’s Independence Day. To arguments that banning such

On Thursday last week the Board Chair of the Lithuanian Gay League (LGL) Vladimir Simonko took part on the TV debate “Public Forum”. The topic of the broadcasted debate focused on whether homosexuals should be granted with additional civil and political rights. The heated debated has attracted significant public attention. The participants in the talk