Christian Union Party Aims to Prohibit Legal Gender Recognition in Lithuania

Already being among some of the most vulnerable groups, transgender community in Lithuania faces yet another threat: recently established Christian party, openly inspired by the current developments in Hungary, declared its intent to prohibit legal gender recognition procedures (LGR). Although more than 12 years has passed since the landmark ECtHR ruling in L. vs. Lithuania

On 4th June, 2020 Lithuanian TV show “Colours” (Lith. Spalvos) and its creator Elena Reimerytė was presented with a National Equality and Diversity Award in the award category Rainbow Award. The project was recognized for documentary, which boldly talks about LGBTI topics and raises questions about the heteronormative world. The TV show is available to

LGL Celebrated IDAHOT with a Social Media Campaign

This year due to global COVID-19 pandemic, the National LGBT rights organization LGL implemented a social media campaign to celebrate the International Day against Homophobia and Transphobia (IDAHOT) online. From 7 to 17 May, 2020 LGL posted visuals including messages dedicated to the 10th anniversary of the Baltic Pride in Vilnius and IDAHOT on Facebook,

Embassies in Vilnius Raised the Rainbow Flag in Honour of IDAHOT

On the 17th of May, 2020 LGBT-friendly embassies in Vilnius raised the rainbow flag to honour the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and biphobia (IDAHOT) and to show their support for the local LGBT community. The rainbow flag decorated the embassies of the United States, Sweden, Germany, Finland, United Kingdom, the Netherlands, France, Denmark and

2019 was a significant year for the LGBT community because of the important achievements made when defending its rights before national and supranational courts. In this interview, Vytautas Mizaras, a professor of the Faculty of Law in Vilnius University (VU), reviews the major achievements of LGBT human rights over the past year and looks at

Lithuanian artist Alen Chicco suffered a homophobic attack in one of Vilnius bars

Last weekend for Tomas Alenčikas-Alen Chicco was extremely uncomfortable – a visit into one of the bars ended in an assault and beating. “No, it is not filter, it’s Lithuania”, after publishing the photo, wrote Alen Chicco. When journalists contacted Tomas, he said that he had been attacked on Sunday night at the “Pilėnai” bar

STRASBOURG OBSERVERS, February 7, 2020 Ingrida Milkaite is a PhD researcher in the research group Law & Technology at Ghent University, Belgium. She is working on the research project ‘A children’s rights perspective on privacy and data protection in the digital age’ (Ghent University, Special Research Fund) and is a member of the Human Rights Centre at the Faculty of Law and

On April 1, 2001, just a few seconds after midnight, Mayor of Amsterdam was the first registrar in the world to marry a gay couple. That night four same-sex couples tied the knot, followed by another 382 who married in the same month. Currently sixteen European countries fully recognize same-sex marriages, while thirteen recognize a

In today’s Chamber judgment1 in the case of Beizaras and Levickas v. Lithuania (application no. 41288/15) the European Court of Human Rights held, unanimously, that there had been: a violation of Article 14 (prohibition of discrimination) of the European Convention on Human Rights, taken in conjunction with Article 8 (right to respect for private and

National LGBT rights organization LGL in partnership with ACCEPT (Romania), Mladejka  LGBT organizatsiya deystvie (Bulgaria), Hatter Tarsasag (Hungary) and International LGBTI Associaction ILGA Europe starts a new project JUST EU: equality and justice for LGBTI citizens though strategic litigation. The goal of the project is to identify and prioritize the legal obstacles faced by LGBTI citizens

In November 1989, Vladimir Simonko, Executive Director of the National LGBT rights organization LGL, visited East Berlin for the third time at the invitation of his friends. On November 9, 1989, he accidentally became a witness of the fall of the Berlin Wall and visited West Berlin for the first time. As the thirtieth anniversary

Introduction:  This Call for Abstracts is part of the project safe.to.be by Speak Out, an initiative by partner organizations from nine different European countries, led by Belgium’s çavaria. All organizations are connected to the LGBTI communities in their respective countries, and have experience on the topic of hate crime and hate speech. ‘Safe.to.be – Speak