Russia is a state from which one can learn “many great things”, claims Rima Baškienė, the First Deputy Speaker of Seimas. “We create a bugaboo: Russia is evil. Not at all. There are many great things in Russia that we should be learning from. It is unfair to say that everything is bad in Russia

In January, 2017 the project “Rainbow Rights – Promoting LGBTI Equality in Europe” has started. The project is carried out by the Ministry of Justice of Finland in partnership with Ministry of Social Affairs and Health of Finland, the national umbrella NGO “Seta – LGBTI Rights in Finland”, the Association of Finnish Local and Regional

NGOs met to discuss the under-reporting of the hate crimes in Lithuania

On January 27th national LGBT rights organization LGL invited representatives from other non-governmental organizations to the discussion “HATE NO MORE: the circumstance of the under-reporting of the hate crimes in Lithuania”. During the meeting NGOs addressed one of the biggest challenges – the latency of hate crimes, the number of reports of the hate motivated

Controversial statements by the Lithuanian MP Agnė Širinskienė, Chair of the Committee on Health Affairs of Seimas and the member of the Lithuanian Peasant and Greens Union Party, are being debated in the Council of Europe. Being familiar with the MP’s claims that „homosexuality is not an innate trait, but a decision to perform homosexual

Nominate your candidates for the Rainbow Appreciation Award 2016!

The Office of Equal Opportunities Ombudsperson and the National Equality and Diversity Forum are organizing the fourth annual National Equality and Diversity Awards. The Awards will honor persons, organizations, projects and initiatives which contributed to the promotion and advancement of equality and diversity in Lithuania in 2016. We invite everyone to present nominations for all

Every Tenth Supports Same-Sex Partnership in Lithuania

In the course of four years only a very slight change in Lithuanian citizens’ attitude towards the introduction of same-sex civil partnership in Lithuania was recorded by a public poll commissioned by the Lithuanian Chamber of Notaries. According to the poll, only 11 % of Lithuanians support the introduction of same-sex civil partnership in Lithuania,

Homophobic Rhetoric Broadcasted on Lithuania’s National Television

On January 9th, 2016 homophobic rhetoric was aired on Lithuania’s national television “LRT”. During a TV show “Good Morning, Lithuania” a journalist inquired people on the streets of Vilnius about their view on Eurovision song contest. One interviewee declared that it is “a meeting of European pederasts”. Although the reportage has been edited, the expression

No Changes on Gender Reassignment in Lithuania, New Government Says

The Vilnius City District Court will have to rule on absent legal gender recognition procedure in Lithuania. On December 22nd, 2016 two transgender men – T.K. and M.V. – lodged a legal complaint with the view of obtaining legal gender recognition without undergoing the compulsory gender reassignment surgery. The newly appointed Government is skeptical about

On December 5th, 2016 the Supreme Administrative Court of Lithuania ruled that the case regarding the Lithuanian Migration Department‘s refusal to issue a temporary residence permit to a Belarusian man, who is married to his Lithuanian same-sex partner under the Danish law, will be referred to the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania. The

Final ‘Hate No More’ Conference took place in Warsaw

From December 12-13th, 2016, representatives of the National LGBT* rights organization LGL and international project partners and experts took part in the final “Hate No More” conference in Warsaw. During the conference, activities implemented by the project were reviewed and a study was presented on the needs of people affected by homophobic and transphobic violence

2016: Top 10 Most Memorable Activities of LGL

1. Baltic Pride 2016 March for Equality On 18th June, 2016 a crowd of 3000 Lithuanian LGBT* community members and their allies participated in the March for Equality on the central avenue in the downtown of Vilnius to celebrate the Baltic Pride 2016, the most important LGBT* community event in the Baltic states, organized by

Neringa Dangvydė, the author of the fairytale book Amber Heart, has secured her first victory: the court will have to reexamine whether fairytales depicting homosexual characters should be considered as “harmful to minors”. The Supreme Court of Lithuania revoked previous decisions by the Vilnius County Court and Vilnius City District Court and returned the case