Lithuanian Government Pushes Opposite-Sex Partnership Bill

On August 11th, 2016 the Government of the Republic of Lithuania gave approval to the changes proposed by the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Lithuania to the Civil Code of the Republic of Lithuania which would legalize civil partnership of opposite-sex couples and further exclude same-sex couples from legal recognition of same-sex relationships.

The Minister of Justice of the Republic of Lithuania Juozas Bernatonis (Social Democratic Party) has proposed to register a bill that would introduce registered partnerships only for different-sex couples. According to the Minister of Justice, many unmarried couples today are living together in Lithuania; thus there is a pressing need to regulate this “widespread form

Russian member organisation fined as ‘foreign agent’

Maximum, one of ILGA-Europe’s eleven member organisations in Russia, has been fined for failing to register as a so-called ‘foreign agent’. Under the infamous 2012 law, any organisation engaging in ‘political activity’ and who receives funds from abroad must register as a ‘foreign agent’ with the Russian Ministry of Justice. At a court hearing yesterday