LGL Briefs Council of Europe on Execution of Beizaras and Levickas v. Lithuania

On July 31st, 2023, LGL submitted a brief regarding execution of Beizaras and Levickas v. Lithuania (Application Number 41288/15) under the Rule 9.2 of the Rules of the Committee of Ministers for supervising execution of the ECtHR judgments. While LGL, which also represented applicants before national courts as well as the European Court of Human Rights (ECHtR),

LGL launches two initiatives to reduce LGBT-motivated hate crimes in Lithuania

1 in 4 Lithuanians disagree that gay, lesbian, bisexual and trans people should be free to live their own life as they wish. The National LGBT rights organization LGL, based in Lithuania, announces the initiatives “Hatred is not a Family Value” and “Identify and Report”. Through a series of public events planned for the coming months,

Source: www.gaypress.eu On December 10th in the event celebrating Human Rights Day the winners of the contest “Best journalist and fighter against discrimination in Belarus in 2017″ have been honored in Minsk . Altogether the 24 materials have been submitted to the contest. The jury has selected three winners and special mention category in partnership

Belarusian journalists: LGBT* topics no longer taboo in independent news

Although Lithuania has enjoyed almost three decades of independent media, themes such as those related to the LGBT community sometimes receive superficial and unprofessional coverage. Even so, progress is clear. Neighboring Belarus, whose government controls a large portion of public information channels, however, has little to celebrate. According to “Journalists for Tolerance” representatives Andrus and

Controversial statements by the Lithuanian MP Agnė Širinskienė, Chair of the Committee on Health Affairs of Seimas and the member of the Lithuanian Peasant and Greens Union Party, are being debated in the Council of Europe. Being familiar with the MP’s claims that „homosexuality is not an innate trait, but a decision to perform homosexual

Homophobic Rhetoric Broadcasted on Lithuania’s National Television

On January 9th, 2016 homophobic rhetoric was aired on Lithuania’s national television “LRT”. During a TV show “Good Morning, Lithuania” a journalist inquired people on the streets of Vilnius about their view on Eurovision song contest. One interviewee declared that it is “a meeting of European pederasts”. Although the reportage has been edited, the expression

In a report adopted on 28th April 2016, the European Parliament expresses its concern over online homo- and transphobic hate speech, and calls for strong measures to counter online hate speech. The demands are made in the report on Gender equality and empowering women in the digital age. The report urges  the Commission to demand

Baltic Pride 2016 Organisers Welcome Support from Rūta Meilutytė

The charitable fund of Rūta Meilutytė, Lithuania’s Olympic Gold medallist and World Record holder in swimming, sent a homophobic email to the organisers of Baltic Pride 2016, taking a strong stand against the event and calling gays “an anomaly”. The email, signed by Rūta’s father who manages the affairs of the young swimmer, came in response to an

Catholic Priest from Lithuania Faces Trial over Homophobic Comments Online

The catholic priest from Kaunas (Lithuania) faces criminal charges for homophobic comments online. After reading an online article about a demonstration in front of the Russian Embassy in Vilnius, organized by the local LGBT* community in August, 2013 with the view of protesting against the draconian ‘anti-gay’ legislation in Russia, the priest wrote: “The ones

On September 17th, 2015, the autumn work agenda of the Parliament of the Republic of Lithuania was approved and contains a long list of initiatives seeking to limit LGBT* rights. Firstly, there is the infamous amendment to the Law on the Fundamentals of Protection of the Rights of Child of the Republic of Lithuania, prohibiting