On 26 November Amnesty International issued public statement on new homophobic legislation in Lithuania which includes new legislative initiative aiming at the introduction of administrative sanctions for the “promotion of homosexual relations” and the Article 39 of the Law on Provision of Public Information as amended in September 2010.   „Amnesty International is seriously concerned

Lithuanian NGOs slam anti-gay law

Today, Lithuanian human rights activists and the representatives of civil society addressed the Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite, Speaker of the Seimas (Parliament) Irena Degutiene, Legal Committee chair Stasys Šedbaras, the Human Rights Committee chair  Arminas Lydeka and the chair of the temporary parliamentary group “For equality” Marija Aušrine Pavilioniene, asking them publicly to express their

Liberals and Democrats call on the Lithuanian authorities to respect LGBT Rights

The ALDE group is calling on the Lithuanian authorities to respect freedom of expression and of assembly and to reject proposals introducing a fine for “public promotion of homosexual relations”, i.e. equality marches for LGBT rights or any public information in favour of LGBT rights. President Verhofstadt has written, together with fellow ALDE MEPs of

Lithuanian parliament seeks to ban gay prides

Lithuania’s parliament on Friday decided to go ahead with legislation imposing fines for the “public promotion of homosexual relations”. The new Article in the Administrative Code is entitled “Public promotion of homosexual relations“ and states that “public promotion of homosexual relations is to be punished by a fine from two thousand to ten thousand litas 

To the attention of Mme Viviane REDING Vice-President of the Commission Commissioner for Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship Dear Commissioner, we know you are due to visit Lithuania this week and we would like to raise with you the request to enquiry with the Lithuanian authorities – and express EU firm opposition, shall media releases

Lithuanian parliament protects anti-gay MPs from prosecution

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – The Lithuanian parliament has voted to protect from prosecution two MPs implicated in violence directed towards a gay-pride parade. In June this year, the country’s prosecutor general requested that the parliament strip Kazimieras Uoka of the centre-right Homeland Union and Christian Democrats, Lithuania’s largest political party, and Petras Gražulis, of the

LITHUANIA, Vilnius – New Law on amendment of the Law on Provision of Information come info effect last week on 18th October, 2010. It is stated in the Law that advertising and audiovisual commercial communication must not contain manifestation or promotion of sexual orientation. In Article 2 definitions of “Audiovisual commercial communication” and “Advertising” are

On 19 October 2010 the Seimas adopted the resolution ‘On the immunity of MP Petras Gražulis’ (draft No.XIP-2520) (votes: for—56, against—35, abstained—12) and the resolution ‘On the immunity of  MP Kazimieras Uoka’ (draft No.XIP-2521) (votes: for—58, against—30, abstained—10).With these legal regulations, the Seimas—following Article 62(2) of the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania and Articles

New anti-gay law proposal registered in Lithuanian parliament

On October 19th, the notorious legislative amendments to Lithuania’s Administrative and Penal Codes which would criminalize the promotion of homosexual relations in public places were withdrawn by their initiator, Member of Parliament (Seimas), Petras Grazulis.  However, they were immediately replaced by MP Grazulis with updated version of the amendment to Administrative Code.   MP Petras Grazulis submitted a

Belgian documentary addresses discrimination of Baltic gay community

‘Two prides, two worlds… one Europe?’, the latest documentary by Roland Javornik, has been selected for Ad Hoc: Inconvenient Films, the national film festival of Lithuania that takes place in Vilnius from the 21st until the 30th of October. Afterwards, the movie will also be shown in other cities across the country. The documentary focuses

Vilnius, LITHUANIA, 8 October 2010 In his homophobic speech delivered to the Lithuanian Parliament (Seimas) on 28 September 2010, member of Parliament Petras Gražulis declared that LGBT individuals are “unhappy people, who have a degeneration of one type or another,” saying that “our children are being mutilated” by the presence of homosexuality within Lithuania.  Gražulis,

Lithuanian Parliament: ready to adopt anti-gay law proposals till the end of the year?

Vilnius, LITHUANIA, 23 September 2010 Today, the Lithuanian parliament (Seimas) adopted its autumn agenda, preparing to debate and come to a final decision regarding the legislative amendments which would criminalize the “promotion of homosexual relations in public places.” These amendments have the potential to go into effect as early as December 2010. “Any move by