On August 30th, the Office of the Seimas Ombudsmen in Lithuania hosted a significant discussion titled “Facts Can Overcome Hate: Strengthening LGBTIQ+ Rights in Lithuania.” This event brought together representatives from state institutions, agencies, law enforcemement, researchers and academia as well as non-governmental organizations to address critical issues facing the LGBTIQ+ community. Seimas Ombudswoman and
News / LGBT Guide LT / From Lithuania
The Lithuanian Social Democratic Party (LSDP) has long positioned itself as a progressive force in Lithuanian politics. However, recent developments suggest a troubling retreat from its previous commitments to LGBTI rights, raising questions about the party’s true values, their adherence to the EU social commitments, and its ability to champion meaningful social change. This shift
Vilnius, 12 April 2024 Hate crime is a matter of concern across Europe and poses major challenges at social, political and legal levels. Violent behaviour motivated by prejudice based on the victim’s disability, colour, religion, national or ethnic origin, sexual orientation, sexual apathy or gender expression poses a serious threat to democratic values in European
Vladimir Simonko, Executive Director of the National LGBTI rights organisation LGL, which celebrated its thirtieth anniversary recently, says that since the restoration of Lithuania’s independence, it has been difficult for changes in the LGBTIQ sphere to find their way onto the political agenda: “The LGBTIQ community had high hopes for Lithuania when it regained its
On 30 October 2023 Lithuanian Gay League together with the Seimas Ombudspersons’ Office organised an inter-institutional roundtable discussion on the implementation of the EU LGBTIQ Equality Strategy and the needs for a national LGBTIQ Human Rights Plan, which was attended by more than 20 representatives from ministries, the Office of the Ombudsman for Equality of
On 28th of July, 2023, LGL organized intersectional discussion on hate crime victim support with the cooperation of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Lithuania. A group of experts discussed the challenges of providing support to victims of hate crimes and the opportunities for improving the system of providing assistance. The meeting focused on the
On July 31st, 2023, LGL submitted a brief regarding execution of Beizaras and Levickas v. Lithuania (Application Number 41288/15) under the Rule 9.2 of the Rules of the Committee of Ministers for supervising execution of the ECtHR judgments. While LGL, which also represented applicants before national courts as well as the European Court of Human Rights (ECHtR),
The Vilnius District Court on Friday rejected an appeal from a same-sex couple seeking to have their marriage recognised by the Lithuanian authorities, reports lrt.lt. The two male claimants were asking the court to oblige the Vilnius City Civil Registry Office to register their marriage and to have it entered into the Register of Marriage
Thousands of LGBTIQ community members and its allies marched in a successful Vilnius Pride event which took place on the 1st of July. Newly elected Vilnius Mayor Valdas Benkunskas also joined the Pride march this year. According to the organizers of the event, “LGBTQ+ people in Lithuania are still being used as political tools –
Klaipėda district mayor Bronius Markauskas says that he himself will not support the initiative of the Lithuanian Family Movement to adopt a declaration “On stopping genderism propaganda and LGBTQ+ ideology in the municipality” and will urge his colleagues not to support it as well, BNS reports. Lithuanian Family Movement (Lietuvos šeimų sąjūdis) is a non-governmental organization closely allied
After the massive success of Baltic Pride 2022 in Vilnius, the National Museum of Lithuania took the first steps to preserve the vibrant LGBTIQ heritage in Lithuania. Last year, the Museum’s History Collections Department began collecting exhibits from the LGBT+ community and approached Lithuanian Gay League (LGL) for cooperation. LGL began its LGBTIQ human rights advocacy work
“Direction: Employment” is an innovative training program for vulnerable young people, which enhances their employability in competitive, high-technology industries and the IT sector. The project aims to unleash the potential of NEET young people from vulnerable groups, and increase their employability by providing a market-specific IT training program in Bulgaria, Lithuania, Italy, Slovenia and Portugal.