Last weekend for Tomas Alenčikas-Alen Chicco was extremely uncomfortable – a visit into one of the bars ended in an assault and beating. “No, it is not filter, it’s Lithuania”, after publishing the photo, wrote Alen Chicco. When journalists contacted Tomas, he said that he had been attacked on Sunday night at the “Pilėnai” bar
News / Human Rights
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
In today’s Chamber judgment1 in the case of Beizaras and Levickas v. Lithuania (application no. 41288/15) the European Court of Human Rights held, unanimously, that there had been: a violation of Article 14 (prohibition of discrimination) of the European Convention on Human Rights, taken in conjunction with Article 8 (right to respect for private and
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
On December 16th, 2019 LGL and All Out started collecting signatures on a petition to put an end to LGBT content censorship in Lithuania. The target of the petition is the Law on the Protection of Minors Against the Detrimental Effect of Public Information, which for almost ten years makes Lithuania the only EU member
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 Friday 13th of December 2019 the international conference “Combating homophobic, biphobic and transphobic stereotypes and prejudice by and through mainstream media” took place in the conference room of the Jurnalists’ Union of Daily Newspapers – ESIEA (Athens, Greece). The conference was organized by Colour Youth – Athens LGBTQ Youth Community, in co-operation with ΚΜΟP
LGBT persons and events in neighbouring countries of Lithuania, including Estonia, are under attack by the ruling parties. Representatives of the LGBT Association in Estonia say the community is intimidated, and Vladimir Simonko, Executive Director of the National LGBT rights organization LGL, warns that what is happening in Estonia is a serious signal to us
Gabriella Calleja, head of the SOGIGESC unit of the Human Rights and Integration Directorate in the Maltese Ministry for European Affairs and Equality, who took part at the National Forum on Human Rights on December 10 at the Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania, is certain that enforcing equality in the country positively affects all
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
In November 1989, Vladimir Simonko, Executive Director of the National LGBT rights organization LGL, visited East Berlin for the third time at the invitation of his friends. On November 9, 1989, he accidentally became a witness of the fall of the Berlin Wall and visited West Berlin for the first time. As the thirtieth anniversary
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