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
News / LGBT Guide LT / From EU
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
On December 18th 2019, the European Parliament adopted its first text dedicated to LGBTI rights: a resolution on public discrimination and hate speech against LGBTI people. Malin Björk, Vice-president of the LGBTI Intergroup, said: “It is simply unacceptable to see “LGBTI-free zones” spread in an EU country.” “Adopting resolutions that discriminate against LGBTI people and their families will
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
On Tuesday 26 November, Members of the European Parliament debated on Public discrimination and hate speech against LGBTI people, including LGBTI free zones. This debate was requested upon initiative of the LGBTI Intergroup. Since the beginning of 2019, 87 localities (regions, counties and municipalities) have passed bills or have declared themselves “LGBTI-free” or “free of LGBT
Lithuania must issue a residence permit to a foreigner, who entered into the same-sex marriage with a citizen of Lithuania in another state, in this way partially recognizing marriages concluded by homosexual individuals abroad. This judgement was pronounced by the Constitutional Court of the Lithuanian Republic (Constitutional Court) on the January 11, 2019 Nevertheless, what
Apparently opinions were bound to polarize after LRT, the national broadcaster of Lithuania, published a social documentary portraying a parenthood journey of a married gay men couple from United Kingdom at its internet portal lrt.lt Although plenty of people praised such a rare instance of the diversity representation, several, likely right-wing affiliated activists appealed to
Lithuanian and Polish sexual minority organizations on Thursday slammed Lithuanian Prime Minister Saulius Skvernelis’ initiative to nominate Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the leader of Poland’s conservative Law and Justice party, for a top Lithuanian state award, the Grand Cross of the Order of Vytautas the Great. LGBT organizations say Kaczynski, facing a parliament vote in Poland, is
Office of the Government of the Republic of Lithuania, led by PM Saulius Skvernelis, has prepared a draft resolution proposing Lithuanian President to honour leader of the Polish ruling party “Law and Justice” Jaroslaw Kaczynski, infamous for is anti-LGBT rhetoric, with one of the highest state decorations of the Lithuanian Republic. Last word regarding the
This September Lithuanian Parliament began to review a new legislative proposal on Lithuanian Law of Equal Treatment amendments, initiated by the Office of the Equal Opportunities Ombudsperson. While the draft law introduces quite a few well-needed changes, such as including the definition of associative discrimination, it does, however, ignore the burning questions of transgender individuals,
According to Eurobarometer on Discrimination 2019, 30% Lithuanians are in favor of same-sex marriages to be allowed throughout the Europe, while in neighboring Latvia even less, 24% respondents support the same notion. Numbers concerning this question are significantly higher in Estonia and even Catholic-majority Poland, 41% and 45% respondents respectively agree that same sex marriages should be
Europe is at a dangerous crossroads and that’s why this is a critical time for the Commission to adopt a comprehensive LGBTI strategy over the next five years, says ILGA-Europe, in advance of the Finnish Presidency conference on advancing LGBTI equality in the EU. On 23 September The Finnish Presidency of the Council of