The State Department on Monday announced it has named Randy Berry as its special envoy to promote global LGBT rights. Berry, who is openly gay, has been the consul general at the U.S. Consulate in Amsterdam since August 2012. He was the consul general at the U.S. Consulate in Auckland, New Zealand, from 2009-2012 and
News / Human Rights
On February 18th, 2015 the District Court of Klaipėda Region affirmed the order by the District Court’s of Klaipėda City to dismiss a formal complaint about hateful online comments regarding a same-sex kiss picture by two students. The initial complaint was filed by the national LGBT* rights organization LGL. As stated in the current judgment,
On February 10th, 2015, the national LGBT* rights organization LGL proposed that the stamp publishing department of the ‘Lithuanian Post’ include the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia– celebrated on May 17th– in its 2016 stamp-planning contest. In its letter, LGL emphasized that the contest, organized by the ‘Lithuania Post,’ would provide an opportunity for
The video clip created over half a year ago by the national LGBT* rights organization LGL will finally reach television audiences and shall be aired without restrictions. As of February 13th of this year, the network “Info TV” will be showing it from 6pm onwards, during the most-watched timeslot. The video clip is a part
On January 30th, 2015 the Board Chair of the national LGBT* rights association LGL Vladimir Simonko was invited to present the ‘Band of the Year’ award in the course of the Lithuanian Music Awards “M.A.M.A.” Despite the fact that Mr. Simonko was not warmly welcomed by some members in the audience, the appearance of the
On June 28, 2014, the EuroPride March took place in Oslo, the capital of Norway. The event gathered international LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons) as well as many of their supporters. The official number of participants still has to be confirmed, but it is likely to have exceeded last year’s participation to the
On July 8th, 2014 the Lithuanian Parliament Seimas considered the bill amendment to the Law on Public Registry No. XIP-2017(3). Despite the fact that the bill consists of multiple amendments to the law in question, i.e. seeking to simplify the functioning of the public registry by enabling residents to submit inquires and to fill in
In the past two weeks Lithuania witnessed two hate crimes said to have been driven by homophobia. On June 24th an explosive device was thrown at singer Ruslanas Kirilkinas during his performance in Linksmakalnis village and on July 7th Agness Landau posted a status on her Facebook wall about the violence her friend had experienced
Norway’s health minister has pledged to push through laws to allow transgender people to change their gender in the country’s population register without being castrated or otherwise sterilized. “I am clear that the present system is not acceptable,” Bent Høie told the country’s national broadcaster NRK. “The system we have in Norway today in this
On the 28th of June around 20 thousands of LGBT*IQ activists and supporters from around the world were marching the streets of Oslo in the occasion of EuroPride 2014
On 19 June 2014 the Lithuanian Parliament Seimas refused to drop the controversial amendment to the Criminal Code, which would remove criminal liability for homophobic hate speech. 18 MPs voted in favor of considering this amendment further while 11 MPs abstained (29 MPs in total), thus outnumbering 25 MPs who voted against the proposal. According
Every year the biggest Internet community for LGBT people in Norway, Gaysir.no, honors the most valuable personality for the LGBT people in Norway or abroad. This year Håkon Haugli – Member of the Parliamentary Assembly of Council of Europe (PACE), deputy representative at the Parliament of Norway and a jurist – got this award. The