In June, Hungary became the second country in the EU to pass the anti-gay proaganda law, as Viktor Orbán’s ruling party intensified its campaign against LGBTI rights. Since 2009 Lithuanian LGBTI community has been struggling with the Law on the Protection of Minors against the Detrimental Effect of Public Information containing a similar anti-LGBTI provision. According to its article

Lithuanian Anti-Gay Propaganda Provision Remains Intact

Newly elected Lithuanian Parliament led by a coalition of Conservative and Liberal powers swiftly, without much of a public debate, adopted amendments to the  Law on the Protection of Minors against the Detrimental Effect of Public Information on January 14, 2021. While these amendments introduced quite a few reasonable changes to the current regulation, it did not address the most controversial

EU LGBTI Survey: LGBTI Human Rights Situation in Lithuania Remains Poor

On 14th of May, 2020 the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) released its LGBTI survey findings – the world’s biggest survey of its kind with 140 000 respondents. Survey results revealed an alarming situation in Lithuania: Lithuanian respondents admitted always (14 %) or almost always (20 %) feeling downhearted or depressed. Moreover, 55 %

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

Lithuanian Draft Law of Equal Treatment: Another Missed Opportunity?

This September Lithuanian Parliament began to review a new legislative proposal on Lithuanian Law of Equal Treatment amendments, initiated by the Office of the Equal Opportunities Ombudsperson. While the draft law introduces quite a few well-needed changes, such as including the definition of associative discrimination, it does, however, ignore the burning questions of transgender individuals,

Countries without same-sex marriage saw rise in homophobia, study shows

European countries that do not legally recognize same-sex relationships, including Lithuania, have seen a rise in homophobia over the last 14 years, a new study by Hungarian researchers suggests. The study, co-authored by Judit Takacs of the Hungarian Academy of Science, shows that, by contrast, acceptance of gay and lesbian relationships increased in countries that

Hate crime training for police officers took place in Kaunas

On November 8 2018, National LGBT* rights organization LGL organized a training for law enforcement officers in Kaunas, led by the Deputy Head of the Mainstream division of the Lithuanian Police Academy Vilius Velička and an expert on victomology Aliona Palujanova. Furthermore, the participants had a chance to meet an investigator within the Democracy and

Foreign Affairs Minister visits LGL office

On Monday, September 17th, LGL welcomed the Foreign Affairs Minister of the Republic of Lithuania Mr. Linas Linkevičius, at our office in Vilnius. Together with Donatas Butkus, director of the Human Rights Division of the United Nations, International Organizations and Human Rights Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he expressed his solidarity with the

Two police raids in LGBT* community gathering places reported this weekend in Minsk

Human rights groups and Belarusian independent media are currently reporting that police raids took place in two clubs frequented by the Minsk LGBT* community on October 21st. “It all happened around midnight,” recalls a witness who was in one of the LGBT* venues, club Burlesque, on on the night from Friday to Saturday when the

Trump Administration Says it’s Legal to Discriminate Against Transgender Workers

The Trump administration is continuing its attack on civil rights laws by rolling back a policy protecting transgender employees from discrimination. The move, from Trump’s Attorney General Jeff Sessions, is just the latest in a string of attacks on trans equality in the past few months. As well as banning transgender people from serving in the