Lithuanians are intolerant of homosexuals, but only 10% say they are acquainted with gays and lesbians, and the same amount suspect knowing someone gay or lesbian. However, if they learned that their own child was gay, about 40% would strive to understand him or her. Only 0.9% would disown their child because of his or her homosexuality, and about 11% would attempt to change the sexual orientation of their child. Such data were obtained in a public opinion poll carried out by Spinter tyrimai at the request of news portal Delfi in April.

Vilana Pilinkaitė-Sotirovic, researcher at the Institute for Ethnic Studies, points out that a lot of people do not know homosexual people in person, but are extremely intolerant of them. According to Vytautas Valentinavičiaus, one of the organizers of the first Baltic Pride in Lithuania and a member of the board of the Lithuanian Gay League (LGL), only few gay people come out to family members, co-workers or friends for fear of rejection, ridicule, abuse and violence. Valentinavičiaus calls for well-known public figures in Lithuania to act as role models by being more open about their sexual orientation.

Only approximately 10% of respondents claimed to be acquainted with gays and lesbians. 4.2% said they know one gay person and 6.2% said they know several. 10.2% of respondents suspected that they know homosexual people. 76% claimed not to know any gay or lesbian people.

The majority of respondents said they would be compassionate if they found out their child was homosexual. 22.5% indicated that they would try to understand their child, and 19.1% said they would accept him or her. 11.7% of respondents would attempt to change the sexual orientation of their child, and about 5% would do nothing, but think that their relationship would deteriorate. 0.9% of respondents would disown their homosexual child. 17.4% do not know how they would react.

Valentinavičiaus says he is extremely concerned about parents who would attempt to change their daughter or son (11.7%). “I believe that such attempts would have a negative impact on the development of the child and his or her relationship with family and peers. Such efforts to alter a child frequently lead to family crisis, the child becoming withdrawn, self-injury, and even suicide,” says Valentinavičiaus. He also draws attention to those who do not know how they would treat a gay child. This fact shows that families might lack information related to sexuality and sexual identity.