In a last-minute move, the governor of Istanbul banned Sunday’s Pride Parade, using the month of Ramadan as a justification. In previous years, Prides were also held during Ramadan, without obstruction by the state and tens of thousands people participating. As demonstrators gathered to start the Pride Parade, defying the ban, they got violently attacked
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This June, Riga hosted Europride 2015. Ten years on from when the first Latvian gay pride took place in Riga, several hundred thousand people will come from across the continent to show their support for gay rights. Proof that the Baltic States have become a much more hospitable place for the LGBT community? Perhaps not.
Turkish police on Sunday used tear gas and water cannons against people who were about to take part in a Pride march in Istanbul. The Istanbul LGBTI Pride Committee in a press release said local authorities announced “at the last minute” that they had banned the event — which had been scheduled to start in
The government in Norway has proposed extending the right of its citizens to change their legal gender to children. Under the proposal, children aged seven and up would be allowed to choose which gender to be legally recognised by, as long as they had parental support. Those aged 16 and above would be allowed to
Lithuania has recently started discussing its attitudes towards homosexuality, in what remains a novelty for a country ranked among the most homophobic in the EU. While data shows that attitudes remain largely the same, many agree that the debates are proof that a change may be coming, albeit slowly. The discussions were largely sparked by
The Parliament of the Republic of Lithuania has appointed Deputy Culture Minister Agneta Lobačevskytė as the head of the Equal Opportunities Ombudsman’s Office of the Republic of Lithuania. The candidate was proposed by the Speaker of the Lithuanian Parliament Loreta Graužinienė. During a secret vote on the 18th of June, 2015 Mrs. Lobačevskytė was supported
Evelyne Paradis, Executive Director of ILGA-Europe Check your calendars. Infringements of fundamental rights, like freedom of expression, association, and assembly inside the European Union’s borders in 2015 – surely there is some mistake? No, unfortunately, that is not a misprint. LGBTI activists and human rights NGOs are being increasingly impeded in their daily work and
On the 18th of June, 2015 in cooperation with the US Embassy in Vilnius, the LGBT* Centre of the national LGBT* organization LGL was visited by Randy Berry, the U.S. Special Envoy for the Human Rights of LGBT Persons. The newly appointed Special Envoy got informed about the situation in Lithuania for LGBT* people, on
On Saturday the 21st of June, 2015, the national LGBT* organization LGL marched in Riga at Europride 2015. The event will be remembered as historical for two main reasons. First of all, Latvia has been the first post-Soviet country to host the festivity of EuroPride. Secondly, attendance to the event reached the impressive number of
On Thursday the 18th of June, 2015, in the framework of the EuroPride 2015, the national LGBT* organization LGL screened the movie “We Can Be Gay Today” in the charming context of the Pride House, benchmark venue of many events during EuroPride. The movie was preceded by an interesting discussion on the realization of the
Rescuing the drowning is the responsibility of the drowning themselves; there is no place for gays, lesbians, transsexuals and other similar people in Lithuanian society. Such were the dominant views expressed after the District Court of Klaipėda reached an official decision regarding the photo of two boys kissing that was posted on Facebook. However, it
MEPs Sophie in ‘t Veld and Izaskun Bilbao, vice-presidents of the ALDE Group, will be in Riga this weekend to join the Europride 2015 and meet key players in the field of LGBTI rights, including the representatives of the national LGBT* rights organization LGL. During the meeting with LGL’s representatives the MEPs will discuss the