On the 17th of June, 2015 the Minister of National Defense of the Republic of Lithuania Juozas Olekas argued that homosexual conscripts are not deprived of the right to serve in the Lithuanian army. Mr. Olekas has been forced to reassure that the country’s military does not discriminate against homosexual conscripts after an army psychiatrist
News / Human Rights
For which purpose a future soldier is asked questions such as: do you like picking flowers and/or would you like to be a florist? Perhaps in order to have Lithuanian conscripts in the army decoded as homosexual persons or have their sexual orientation revealed? The military acknowledges that homosexual conscripts are not welcome in the
“I represent traditional families, but I am not against partnership, as partnership is not same-sex marriage, partnership defines property relations,” the Speaker of the Lithuanian Parliament Seimas Loreta Graužinienė claimed on the 17th of June, 2015 when asked about her opinion on registered partnership for same-sex couples. Speaking about cohabitation of persons of the same
Final adjustments to a bill on registered partnership, drafted by the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Lithuania, are being made with the Catholic Church, and the document would shortly be submitted to the government for deliberation, Prime Minister of the Republic of Lithuania Algirdas Butkevičius admitted on the 16th of June, 2015. “We
On the 25th of May, 2015 the national LGBT* rights organization LGL received a notice from the Equal Opportunities Ombudsman’s Office of the Republic of Lithuania stating that potential complaints about discrimination on the basis of gender identity received by the Office would be investigated under the Law on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men
The recent homophobic rant by Lithuanian DJ and producer Marijus Adomaitis, known internationally as Ten Walls, and the following outcry will benefit Lithuania, as it will trigger an even more open discussion on homophobia and intolerance, claimed the President of the Republic of Lithuania Dalia Grybauskaitė on the 10th of June, 2015. “I believe the
Justice Minister’s Opposition Violates European Norms (Berlin, June 11, 2015) – The Lithuanian justice minister’s blanket rejection of a gender neutral bill to allow civil partnerships contravenes European standards, Human Rights Watch said in a letter to Justice Minister Juozas Bernatonis released today. The minister was reacting to a proposed civil partnership bill by nine
The National LGBT* Organization LGL, welcomes the fact that yesterday, Tuesday the 9th of June, 2015 the European Parliament loudly signaled its commitment to gender equality, and more specifically to an EU strategy beyond 2015. In a landmark vote, the European Parliament has demanded to include LGBTI rights in a future EU gender equality strategy.
The national LGBT* rights organization LGL proudly presents its brand new publication “Transgender people’s human rights standards: gender reassignment and legal recognition” in Lithuanian. The publication is intended to share the best practices for the protection of transgender persons’ human rights as far as medical gender reassignment and legal recognition are concerned. The publication developed
Speaking during a discussion at the Parliament of the Republic of Lithuania on June 3rd, the only openly gay member of the Lithuanian Parliament and the Conservative Party Rokas Žilinskas insisted that the adoption of the Partnership Act, proposed by nine members of the Parliament from the Social Democratic and the Liberal Movement parties would
By treating different-sex and same-sex unmarried couples differently, Lithuania would violate the European Convention of Human Rights, Professor of Law Vytautas Mizaras from Vilnius University argued on the June 3rd, 2015. The Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Lithuania is intending to propose a partnership law that would apply only to different-sex couples. According
The Minister of Justice of the Republic of Lithuania Juozas Bernatonis (Social Democratic Party) has proposed to register a bill that would introduce registered partnerships only for different-sex couples. According to the Minister of Justice, many unmarried couples today are living together in Lithuania; thus there is a pressing need to regulate this “widespread form