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
Tag Archive: homophobia
Summer is the time of Pride marches. The numerous marches in Europe are a testament to the ground-breaking progress toward acceptance of the equal rights of lesbians, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) persons. In the vast majority of European countries, and elsewhere in the world, crowds have been rallying to celebrate – or claim
On April 26th, 2017 a student of Žemaitė Gymnasium in Telšiai (Lithuania) published photos from religion class on “Facebook“ that caused an uproar on the social media. The photos display slides shown for tenth grad students as a part of religious education class. The slides contain information indicating that homosexual persons are “murderers and cannibals,
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
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
Ruslanas Kirilkinas, Lithuanian singer and the winner of „Music Academy“, will appear at the charity event „Rainbow Ball“, which will be held for the twentieth time on January 28th, 2017 in Vienna. The singer has prepared a special piece for the event – an anthem for the Lithuanian LGBT* community, which will be presented as
On September 14th the Lithuanian Parliament adopted its autumn agenda, preparing to debate on five legislative amendments and legislative initiatives that seek to restrict and openly violate LGBT rights as well as the international commitments to uphold freedom of expression and to fight discrimination. First, there is the infamous Article 38 of the Constitution of
On June 28th, 2016 the Lithuanian Parliament voted in favor of the constitutional amendment, which seeks to eliminate same-sex couples from the ambit of the constitutional concept of family life. 74 MPs voted in favor of the constitutional amendment, 19 MPs voted against and 20 MPs abstained. This vote implicates that no sooner than in
Ieva Ruzgytė is the first athlete to represent Lithuania in the “Gay Games”, taking place in Paris in 2018. We talked with Ieva about what made her decide to participate in this tournament and in the events of Baltic Pride 2016. You are an accomplished judo master. What motivated you to talk about the importance
Two-thirds of adults would be upset if child was gay, and only a quarter would accept a trans child. Two-thirds of adults would be upset if their child told them that they were in love with someone of the same sex according to a new survey. The survey was conducted by the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual,