On November 5th, 2014 the national LGBT* rights organization LGL applied to Supreme Administrative Court of Lithuania under Vilnius Regional Administrative Court’s judgment to reject LGL’s appeal against social video censorship.
On October 23rd, 2014 LGL appealed to Vilnius Regional Administrative Court, requesting to revoke the decision by the Lithuanian Office of the Inspector of Journalist Ethics‘ that social video on LGBT* issues should be restricted under the controversial Lithuanian Law on the Protection of Minors against the Detrimental Effects of Public Information.
On October 24th, 2014 Vilnius Regional Administrative Court passed an order to dismiss LGL’s complaint, stating that the document, issued by the Lithuanian Office of the Inspector of Journalist Ethics‘, which argues that the video has a detrimental effect on minors, is a recommendation and do not cause any rights or obligations.
In the appeal to Supreme Administrative Court of Lithuania the national LGBT* rights organization LGL specifies a loophole the Lithuanian Law on the Protection of Minors against the Detrimental Effects of Public Information creates. Given the current legal context the document, issued by the Office of the Inspector of Journalist Ethics, has specific legal consequences for the providers of public information (LGL) and its broadcasters (Lithuanian television channels). “Non-compliance to this document obliges to limit positive information about LGBT* people and entails legal responsibility,” – states the appeal.
Two Lithuanian commercial channels refused to air a video clip, produced by LGL, which is a part of a social campaign “Change It”. This video aims at challenging negative attitudes towards the local LGBT* community. On September 15th, 2014 the experts of the Lithuanian Office of the Inspector of Journalist Ethics decided that the video has detrimental effect on minors. The Lithuanian television channels thus concluded that the social video can only be broadcasted after 11 PM marked with “S” symbol (i.e. “adult content”).
