The parliament in Kyrgyzstan is being urged to reject legislation which would ban “foreign agents” and “homosexual propaganda”. The Human Rights Watch (HRC) states that the bills are intended to criminalise “homosexual propaganda”, and to force restrictions onto small charities, in moves which could marginalise minorities. Introduced this month, the bills could be put to a vote
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Cyprus is set to hold its first ever pride event on Saturday 31 May, sixteen years after a law banning homosexuality was repealed. Authorities in the island’s Turkish Cypriot north, a self-declared state recognised only by Ankara, repealed a similar law in February. Same-sex couples in Cyprus do not receive the same rights as heterosexual
185 (25%) newly elected members of the 751-seat European Parliament have signed ILGA-Europe’s European Elections 2014 Come Out Pledge, committing themselves to advancing human rights and LGBTI equality over the next five years. Since the launch of the Come Out campaign in January, ILGA-Europe and its members reached out to candidates in all EU countries,
May 2014 was an important month for Europe. The elections for the European Parliament, which took place from May 22 to May 25 in all the member States of the EU, revealed who will represent us in the next five years within the Union. A number of initiatives have been taken in order to raise
The Rainbow Days 2014, a three-week long festival organized by LGL (Lithuanian Gay League) in celebration of IDAHOT (International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia), is coming to an end. These last few weeks have seen a number of cultural events happening in Vilnius and in other Lithuanian cities, all of them revolving around the topic
On May 23, LGL moved its rainbow flags to Kaunas. Two events were organized in the second biggest city in Lithuania for our Rainbow Days 2014. First, Margarita Jankauskaitė, expert from the Center for Equality Advancement, gave a lecture on social construction of gender. She focused on some of the historical contexts in which gender
On May 22 the last event of the Rainbow Days 2014 in Vilnius took place. LGL volunteers, friends and supporters gathered in our office for the screening of Roma Boys, a movie by Czech director Rozálie Kohoutová on the diffuculties faced by Roma homosexuals in Czech Republic. After the movie, participants debated on the topic of
South African president Jacob Zuma has appointed the country’s first openly gay cabinet minister. Zuma appointed Lynne Brown – who was previously the Premier of the Western Cape province – as Minister of Public Enterprises, earning her a spot in the cabinet. Gay political author Eusebius McKaiser told the Guardian: “It is, sadly, probably newsworthy, I guess, insofar
On June 2, the Baltic Pride 2014 will begin in Tallinn and it will take the form of a week-long festival filled with a number of events, taking place not only in Tallinn, but also in Tartu. All the workshops, performances, discussions, reading groups, exhibitions and film screenings will gravitate around one main theme, STAND
On 21 May 2014 LGL launched the Baltic Pride 2013 photo-album. LGL team and supporters attended the event that took place at the Contemporary Art Centre. Baltic Pride 2013 was an extremely important moment for the Lithuanian LGBT* community. It gave us visibility as a community, it showed the support we enjoy from many non-LGBT
On May 17, the day in which IDAHOT (International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia) is celebrated worldwide, the LGL team hopped on a yellow open-deck bus and toured the streets of Vilnius demonstrating against any instance of biphobia, homophobia and transphobia. The bus started its route at 10 am from the LGL office and drove
On May 16, a joint reception organized by 14 embassies took place at the French Residence in celebration of IDAHOT (International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia). As stated by the French Ambassador Maryse Berniau during her speech, it is very important to celebrate this day in a country like Lithuania, where it is still difficult