Manifestations of solidarity and support continue to hit the web and social media after the tragic event which unfolded in Paris on the 7th of January. Charlie Hebdo is a French weekly newspaper collecting cartoons, reports and satirical jokes with a non-conformist tone. Openly anti-religious and left-wing, the newspaper dealt with many of the most
News / LGBT Guide LT / From the World
In December 2014 LGBT* rights activists, from all regions of the world, came together and signed a joint letter to US President Barack Obama. Twenty four representatives of the world’s leading LGBT* rights organizations, including the national LGBT* rights association LGL, called on the President to actively contribute to the overall effort to bring justice and
On the occasion of Human Rights Day, GALE presented the first world map on the implementation of the right to education for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) students. The map was presented at a UNESCO symposium in Paris on the progress of the global strategy to fight homophobic bullying. Of the 96 countries surveyed,
On December 9, 2014, the EU Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) presented the largest comparative study on the experiences of trans people in all 28 EU Member States. The FRA calls the results “alarming”, but highlights that legal frameworks and good policies have a positive impact on trans people’s lives. The FRA study was launched at an
On December 8, 2014 the International Olympic Committee unanimously voted through an amendment which formally protect lesbian, gay and bisexual people from discrimination. The Olympic Charter has been amended to explicitly safeguard lesbian, gay and bisexual athletes, after concerns about homophobia at this year’s Winter Olympics in Sochi. The charter already outlawed discrimination on the
A member of the executive board of Latvia’s ruling Unity Party resigned on December 2, 2014 after a string of tweets attacking LGBT* people, including one in which she appeared to praise the Nazi extermination of homosexuals, Latvian Public Broadcasting reported. “Thank God — at one time, the Germans shot them. It improves fertility,” Inga
On December 2, 2014 the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruled that authorities, when verifying the sexual orientation of an asylum seeker, should always comply with the EU’s Charter of Fundamental Rights. The case ended on the Court’s plate after Dutch authorities refused to grant asylum to three third-country nationals, who sought
The Finnish Parliament voted on Friday afternoon to allow gender-neutral marriage, 105-92. The vote had been expected to be closer. The unprecedented outcome marks the first time that a citizens’ initiative has received lawmakers’ blessing to be written into the law books. It also allows Finland to finally catch up with its Nordic peers, all
On November 25th, 2014 the European Parliament voted for a report defining its input into the global future development policy. The report contains strong wording on LGBTI rights and sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR). In 2000 the UN adopted the Millennium Declaration, specifying concrete targets to be reached by 2015: the Millennium Development
OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) released hate crime data for 2013. Thirty-six participating States submitted information, along with 109 NGOs covering incidents in 45 countries, including Lithuania. The national LGBT* rights organization LGL notified ODIHR about two physical assaults resulting in serious injuries, including the gang-rape of a gay man, a
The United Nations programme on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS) has announced a plan to “fast track” approach to tackling the AIDS epidemic with a view to ending it by 2030. The latest report from UNAIDS titled ‘Fast-Track: ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030′, outlines a plan to avert 28 million new HIV infections and 21 million
International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach is recommending that sexual orientation become one of the protected classes listed in the non-discrimination policy of the Olympic Charter. The IOC underwent heavy criticism for many months leading up to the Sochi Olympics this year because they were held in Russia, a country that has an anti-gay propaganda