The openly homophobic politician Petras Gražulis was appointed to the Commission for Ethics and Procedure by the Lithuanian Parliament on Tuesday, 27 November 2011. Despite the attempts by the opposition to prevent this motion, 53 MPs voted in favor of the candidacy by Mr. Gražulis. 15min.lt reports that one of the smaller partners in the governing coalition, i.e. the political party Justice and Order, which is responsible for the Petras Gražulis’ appointment, rejected any objections by the parliamentary opposition by stating that they are not obliged to take these considerations into account.

The main objections against the appointment of Petras Gražulis were focusing on the lack of irreproachable character, the controversy regarding using parliamentary representational funds in order to purchase a personal vehicle and the procedural objection that the leaders of political groups within the Parliament (i.e. Petras Gražulis is the leader of the parliamentary fraction of Justice and Order) should not participate in any parliamentary Commissions. The party colleague of Mr. Gražulis responded that these objections are purely subjective and therefore should not be taken into account.

The proposal to eliminate Petras Gražulis form the list of Commission’s members received 39 votes in favor, 53 votes against and 18 MPs abstained. The final Commission, including Petras Gražulis, was appointed by 84 votes in favor. The list of the MPs, who voted for and against excluding Mr. Gražulis from the Commission for Ethics and Procedures, can be found here.

The homophobic rhetoric by Petras Gražulis grabbed the international attention not only during the Baltic Pride 2010 events in Vilnius (video available), but also during a conference on the International Day against Homophobia in 2012 (video available). He is also responsible for a multiple attempts to introduce homophobic legislation, including the constitutional ban to ‘promote homosexual relations’.