The 14th Annual March for Pride and Tolerance in Jerusalem will take place tomorrow, to celebrate the diversity within the city and challenge those who continue to oppose LGBT rights in Israel. Organised by the Jerusalem Open House – which also runs the city’s LGBT community centre – the festival drew over five thousand people
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IGLYO, ILGA-Europe, ICRSE, SWAN & TGEU have written to the Turkish government to express their grave concern about the lack of a political response over recent attacks, discriminatory treatment and incitement to violence against lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex people in Turkey. In particular, the groups denounce the ill-treatment Kemal Ördek, co-founder of the Red
Jessica Rotariu chose to do her breast augmentation surgery in Lithuania, as the qualification of the surgeons and the price of the procedures pleased her. After a mammography was handed to the doctor during the second meeting, the surgeon Martynas Norkus found out that Jessica is transgender woman and refused to perform the booked surgery.
Ahead of vote to pick the host for the 2022 Winter Olympics, Human Rights Watch has called out Kazakhstan on it’s anti-gay treatment. HRW recently released a 31 page document, discussing how LGBT people in Kazakhstan are living in a “climate of fear”, facing regular hostility and discrimination – even though homosexuality has been legal
Barack Obama has told Kenya’s Uhuru Kenyatta that gay people must be treated equally under the law, or else “bad things” will happen. The US President, whose father was from Kenya, is currently visiting the country for the first time as President. During an interview with the BBC’s John Sopel prior to his visit Africa, President Obama
‘It was the first time we heard policymakers recognizing that trans citizens need to have their dignity assured’. The Polish parliament’s lower house has passed the country’s first transgender recognition legislation. Poland’s first transgender MP, Anna Grodzka, introduced the Gender Accordance Act in May 2012, and it was finally passed on Thursday (23 July) by 252 votes to 158, with 11 absentations. Under
On July 17th-19th, 2015 the independent community festival SapfoFest took place in the scenic location of Žeimiai Manor House, Lithuania. Representatives from the National LGBT* Rights Organization LGL participated in the event and had the opportunity to fully delve into a weekend full of queer culture and self-expression. The first festival has been organized every
Italy joins Argentina, Denmark, Malta and Ireland in acknowledging the right of trans people to self-determine their own identity. Italy has become the fifth country in the world to acknowledge that trans people are allowed to identify as trans without medical, surgery or genital intervention. Following a historic decision by the Italian Supreme Court this week,
The new judgement by the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) on legal recognition of same-sex relationships is significant for Lithuania, says a lawyer of the Vilnius-based Human Rights Monitoring Institute (HRMI). Natalija Bitiukova, i.e the deputy director of HRMI, emphasized the significance of the court’s ruling handed down on July 21st, 2015, which indicated
The Lithuanian society is not ready for same-sex partnerships, Speaker of the Lithuanian Seimas Loreta Graužinienė claims. “Our society is not ready for such an action [legislating on same-sex partnership],” she told the Žinių Radijas news radio on July 22nd, 2015. In her words, such decisions could be made after a new and more tolerant
On July 23rd, 2015 LGBT groups expressed regret over the choice of Polish organizations in Lithuania to wear homophobic T-shirts with slogans “Vilnius on Bicycles without Pedals” (Pol. “Wilno Na Rowerach Bez Pedalow”) during their recent congress. Vladimir Simonko, the leader of the National LGBT* Rights Organization LGL, said the word “pedal” was an insulting
After only two weeks our new volunteer Annemarie left the National LGBT Rights Organization LGL – but only to return full of ideas for the following ten months of her European Volunteer Service (EVS).Where she came up with the new project ideas for the LGL community? At her on-arrival training in Anupriškės. What she experienced