Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union issued a statement explaining why the Istanbul Convention on violence against women will not be ratified in the Lithuanian Parliament’s Spring Session. The widespread declaration states that the Istanbul Convention is being “assessed controversially” and should be addressed primarily to those members of the Council of Europe who have not
Author Archive: Eglė
Ausma Sakalauskaitė (35) is an organist who teaches music, plays in churches and at funerals, and although she is not an LGBT activist, being in the closet is definitely not an option for her. In this report, she tells us about the price of being out in public, working in the countryside and about some
Lithuanian University of Educational Sciences (LEU) asked a transgender person, who has recently changed her legal documents, to submit a declaration stating that she has lost her diploma. According to LEU, this is the sole way to receive a duplicate diploma. Since cases like this are not regulated, transgender people can find themselves in absurd
On March 10th, 2018 the Lithuanian Parliament approved its agenda for the upcoming plenary session. The approved agenda includes three homophobic and transphobic legislative initiatives seeking to further limit LGBT* human rights in Lithuania. The Parliament is going to consider (1) total ban on gender reassignment procedure, (2) Constitutional amendment on definition of family life
On March 22th, 2018 the representative of the National LGBT* Rights Organization LGL Tomas Vytautas Raskevičius participated in the 5th European Commission’s Meeting of the Sub-group on Countering Hate Speech Online in Brussels (Belgium). The meeting served as an opportunity to discuss joint efforts by the Governments of the Member States, civil society organizations and
Tomas V. Raskevičius, LGL‘s Policy Coordinator, participated in a kick-off meeting for the international project “Call It Hate: Raising Awareness of Anti-LGBT Hate Crime“, held on February 8th-9th, 2018 in Bergamo (Italy). The project builds upon the continuing efforts by the association LGL to counteract the negative phenomenon of anti-LGBT hate crimes and hate speech
On January 23, Members of the European Parliament, representatives from European Institutions, Member State governments, and civil society organisations met at the European Parliament for the launch of the first LGBTQI Inclusive Education Index and Report, created by IGLYO – The International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer & Intersex (LGBTQI) Youth and Student Organisation. The
Eglė Kuktoraitė, Communications Coordinator of the National LGBT* rights organization LGL, participated in a kick-off meeting for the international project “E.T.Ho.S: Eliminating Transphobic, Homobophic and Biphobic Stereotypes through Better Media Representation“, held on 5th-6th of February, 2018 in Athens (Greece). During the „E.T.Ho.S” project kick-offf meeting, project partners discussed future activities and finalized plans for
As we begin another year of LGBT* human rights activism, it’s important to stop for a moment to assess what the LGBT* rights movement in Lithuania was able to achieve in 2017, and what political and social circumstances will continue to impact our community this year. 2016’s parliamentary elections, and the “peasants” and “social workers”
On September 1st, 2017, Lithuanian schools adopted a new General Program for Health, Sexual Education and Family Planning, which, among other things, prevents the provision of physically or psychologically harmful, incorrect, biased or one-sided information, as well as that which encourages dissatisfaction with one’s body, appearance or sexual orientation, or discourages acceptance of these traits.