Vladimir Simonko, Executive Director of the National LGBTI rights organisation LGL, which celebrated its thirtieth anniversary recently, says that since the restoration of Lithuania’s independence, it has been difficult for changes in the LGBTIQ sphere to find their way onto the political agenda: “The LGBTIQ community had high hopes for Lithuania when it regained its

On 28th of July, 2023, LGL organized intersectional discussion on hate crime victim support with the cooperation of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Lithuania. A group of experts discussed the challenges of providing support to victims of hate crimes and the opportunities for improving the system of providing assistance. The meeting focused on the

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),

Will 2022 Mark a Turning Point for all LGBTIQ Families in the EU ?

Lithuania, along with Latvia, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria and Slovakia to this day remaining the only European Union Member States without same-sex family rights recognition. Although these countries face multitude of social and political issues which often effectively demotes LGBTIQ equality  to political periphery, LGBTIQ communities and their supporters are becoming more vocal than ever before.

Amicus Brief Submitted in Relu-Adrian Coman and Others v. Romania

While Lithuania still remains among 6 European Union states that do not provide a gender-neutral Partnership alternative, National LGBTI Rights Organization LGL together with the international partners from the Czech Republic, Poland and Bulgaria continue to consolidate their efforts towards establishing a higher standard of protection within the regulation of the European Convention on Human

LGBTI in Lithuania: Equality Priorities Remain in a Political Periphery

Unprecedented success of  Baltic Pride 2019 festival in Vilnius which brought together around 10 000 LGBTI people and their allies marked the beginning of certain positive changes towards LGBTI acceptance and equality.  However, even after LGBTI-friendly Liberal political powers secured their place in the ruling coalition in 2020, the pace of change leaves a lot to

LGL Provided Advisory Opinion in EC(t)HR case Buhuceanu and Ciobotaru v. Romania

After obtaining permission by European Court of the Human Rights (ECtHR)  to indirectly participate in the supranational judicial proceedings, National LGBT rights organization LGL submitted the Amicus Curiae brief in the ECtHR case Buhuceanu and Ciobotaru v. Romania, brought by 26 Romanian applicants regarding human rights violations resulting from insufficient same-sex family rights recognition. Third Party

Pre-electoral Political Standing on LGBT Family Rights

Parliamentary elections will be held in Lithuania on the 11 October, 2020 and current pre-electoral promises reflect the possibility of some positive future developments for the Lithuanian LGBT community. According to lrt.lt findings, 5 to 7 parties are in favour of same-sex family relationship recognition, namely Liberty Party, Liberal Movement, Social Democrats, Lithuanian Green Party (not