Lhuania set to legalise gay civil partnerships next year, says LGBT+ lawmaker | Rters

Contents:

• THE LONG JOURNEY OUT OF THE CLOSET FOR LHUANIA’S GAY MUNY
• GAY LIFE LHUANIA
• GAY VILNI
• GAY LIFE LHUANIA 2017
• LHUANIA SET TO LEGALISE GAY CIVIL PARTNERSHIPS NEXT YEAR, SAYS LGBT+ LAWMAKER
• THE BEST VILNI GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS VILNI
• LHUANIA'S 'GAY PROPAGANDA' LAW LOOMS OVER FIGHT FOR SAME-SEX UNNS
• SURPRISG HISTORY OF FIRST UNRGROUND GAY CLUBS LHUANIA
• MOST OF 300,000 SIGNATUR PETN AGAST GAY LHUANIAN MP FAKED BY PRANKSTER
• WEIRST, MOST ENTERTAG, FUNNIT GAY CLUB EXPERIENCE MY LIFE
• ROMAS ZABARSKAS: THE GAY LHUANIAN FILMMAKER MAKG A MEAT-EE MOVIE
• GAY DICTNARY LHUANIAN
• GAY DATG UKRAE

THE LONG JOURNEY OUT OF THE CLOSET FOR LHUANIA’S GAY MUNY

”More rmatnAt 4am on that day Augt, a group of hood figur, who are yet to be intified, hurled Molotov cktails agast the small office belongg to the Lhuanian Gay League (LGL), which is the first anizatn Lhuania to fight for LGBT+ rights.

Fifteen mut later, another Molotov cktail was left outsi the hoe of the uple, who work to brg visibily to the gay muny one of the most rtrictive untri the European Unn when to homosexualy.

GAY LIFE LHUANIA

Only 24% of Lhuanians support same-sex marriage pared to the European average of 64%, acrdg to a 2016 survey by the European people put attacks such as that agast the LGL down to pure homophobia, while others argue that is more to do wh the fact that until recently, the untry was unr the ntrol of the Soviet Unn.

“Dpe the magnificent progrs recent years, the LGBT muny is still facg habual discrimatn, ” explas Daniele Vtti, a member of the European Parliament who is on the civil liberti missn, via USSR nsired homosexualy an unsirable nce of the bourgeoisie. Daniele Vtti, MEP on the civil liberti missnWhen to discrimatn, the Baltic Republic 37th out of 49 European untri the rankg of the Internatnal Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Associatn (ILGA), wh fay valu beg the ma obstacle to the advancement of LGBT+ the untry, which has almost three ln habants, lived unr the Soviet Unn, everyone need to be equal, says Vtti.

Raskevici reprents the new generatn of gays Lhuania who want to “e out of the closet” whout fear of their parent’s opns – one of the biggt problems for a generatn that grew up unr munism, where homosexualy was prohibed.

GAY VILNI

Raskevici, who is wearg a long quilted at and a floral shirt, and is a shaved head and blue ntact lens, was Vilni’s first openly gay polician whose electoral mpaign not only drew upon his personal history, but also on the fense of LGBT+ rights.

Gay Marriage⚭✖ Foreign same-sex marriag regnized onlyCensorship✖ Fe as punishmentChangg Genr✖ Legal, but requir surgeryNon-bary genr regnn✖ Not legally regnizedEmployment Discrimatn✔ Sexual orientatn and genr intyHog Discrimatn✔ Sexual orientatn and genr intyMilary✖ Lbians, gays, bisexuals permted, transgenr people bannedConversn Therapy✖ Not banned.

Here is one of those former Soviet bloc untri where morn “Gay Life Lhuania” is nflict wh old tradns as the untry emerg om the reprsive mentaly that stigmatized and crimalized homosexualy.

GAY LIFE LHUANIA 2017

Sce the passg of a homophobic law July 2009 that was tend to protect mors om the negative effects of public rmatn–cludg so-lled “advertisg of homosexual, bisexual and polygamo relatns”–crics and fenrs have stumbled over then difficult issue of public homosexualy Lhuania. The article pertag to the ban on homosexual advertisg, orr, supposedly, to protect mors, will be replaced by a ban on all rmatn which would promise sexual tegry, particularly that of young children. When puti adopt homo-phobic laws, there are no assuranc that the groups of hate-mongers won’t terpret this as a ll to act”, he hammers out, alarmed at the cisns beg ma by legislators.

LHUANIA SET TO LEGALISE GAY CIVIL PARTNERSHIPS NEXT YEAR, SAYS LGBT+ LAWMAKER

“The visible cizens”, as they are termed by the soclogists who thored a large-sle survey on homophobia Lhuania, are subject to several forms of discrimatn, most notably the workplace. He claims to have recently been a victim of discrimatn when he requted a day off to participate the ILGA Conference of the European Associatn of Homosexuals, held Vilni 2007, and thereby revealed his sexual orientatn.

Given the suatn, as Vladimir Simonko remarks, many young homosexual Lhuanians “seek out plac where they are safe to exprs themselv whout discrimatn and where they n be themselv, whout hidg nor lyg, and where they n image a future”. Aramantas wrote this reactn to the problems of Lhuania and pared s relig fluence to other Catholic untri: “Gay rights activists and anizers are vilified Catholic Vilni; meanwhile, largely Catholic Mexi has legalized same sex marriage and Brazilian megapolis San Paolo hosted the world’s largt pri event wh over three ln participants early June.

And fally, Jonas had this to say: “I saw Gay Pri 2010 Vilni and was very strange; a small, shy monstratn wh mostly foreign people, cludg Polish supporters, lookg like a prott of workers at a supermarket.

THE BEST VILNI GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS VILNI

Durg that mpaign members of Lhuanian Parliament were asked to state their opns regardg the harsh posn of Lhuanian Catholic church hierarchy that claims “homosexualy is a perversn”.

The mon tert is to abolish discrimatn and the equaly of lbian, gay and bisexual persons the area of employment and enablg LGBT persons to work unr circumstanc that are equal to their lleagu. Dpe several charg at the barris and smoke bombs, plastic bottl and unoked ssag thrown at police by the anti-gay protters, there was no vlence only 12 arrts, which clud several members of parliament. There had been mors origatg om the Interim Prosecutor General Raimondas Petrskas that anti-gay radils would attack the participants upon entrance and ex to the para, but when the b rolled up to the perimeter of the fenced area, only the teal fatigu of the Vilni police force uld be seen.

LHUANIA'S 'GAY PROPAGANDA' LAW LOOMS OVER FIGHT FOR SAME-SEX UNNS

Seimas member Rokas Žilskas was posg for the meras wh the huge rabow flag and told Baltic Reports that although he had been skeptil at first, he was out mpaigng for human rights, not only gay rights.

The first LGBT film ftival ‘Koks kas’ is anised by Equal Rights & Social Development Centre llaboratn wh Lhuanian Gay League and wh kd support of the Royal Netherlands Embassy Vilni as well as other sponsors.

SURPRISG HISTORY OF FIRST UNRGROUND GAY CLUBS LHUANIA

Sixteen years after Lhuania liberated self om Soviet shackl, the hardly-risque Internatnal Lbian and Gay Associatn (ILGA) announced they will hold their annual European nference Vilni.

MOST OF 300,000 SIGNATUR PETN AGAST GAY LHUANIAN MP FAKED BY PRANKSTER

This opn is more mon than not the Baltic untri where homophobia remas firmly entrenched, ntrast to Wtern Europe where gays and lbians have bee visible, if not fully accepted, members of society. " This wispread and stutnalised homophobia mak almost impossible for gay Lhuanians to reveal their sexual orientatn (no Lhuanian celebry or public figure has ever e out as openly gay). That such an anisatn - workg towards the regnn and acceptance of gays LT - is forced to operate wh such extreme discretn speaks volum about the current stat of homosexuals the untry.

Regardls of public reactn to this event, the ftival is a major step towards creatg solidary wh Vilni' gay and lbian muny, enuragg muny awarens and slowg wearg down Lhuania's evasn of homosexual issu.

Wh Rabow Days as a primer for the nference, lol and European anisatns should have a better ia of how ready and willg Lhuania is to face the gay skeleton s closet, and how bt to support s 'g out. Per he' Luania tanti problemi e poi giro per Italian tostrada nei percheggi troviamo mnisti Che si lasciano fare Di tutto da noi Gay e' gorse Che a Casa logo Hanno Lra poi quanto sono fluori l loro terrorial fanno tutto CIO Che non pls sono fare Luania a UDINE nel parchegg Della dogma a al sabato sera e Domi dove parchegg no si fa Di tutto e dipiu' basta dare loro barre e works poi ti fanno saltire sul Camn e li fai n Lui CIO Che tu voi allograft mi domanda se lomossuala' non e' accept tats Luania per he' quanto sono fluori l loro terror fanno tutto e si se to ntenti e liberati dal loro modo Di venre...

WEIRST, MOST ENTERTAG, FUNNIT GAY CLUB EXPERIENCE MY LIFE

Jt when you thk Amerins take the ke for beg homophobic then you go to Lhuania and fd out there are people more stupid and partner is Lhuanian and god for bid his fay or village fd out he is uld/would kill him and would be totally acceptable.

Their sexualy do not ncern me and should not ncern the rt of the world, and I'm happy that they are happy beg hont lovg people but I do not feel right to let them ignore certa society l jt bee they are gay.

Comg om Lhuania, I do feel the public opposn towards homosexualy as such; neverthels, I unrstand that two different sets of valu are juxtaposed: the ncept of personal eedom to live cently and tradnal fay valu which the image of homosexualy do not promote. I wish people would wake up if ure christan or relig then read God ma man and woman to have children to give birth to life like the earth but re now we are killg the earth but we are supposed to be the keepers of earth u are supposed to love everyone no matter who or wat they are if u dont then God n hate u if u hate this then i n i hate u an eye for eye basilly the only thg that homosexuals are dog wrong is not givg life thats all if u have sex for fun thats lt which is a s u have sex for the creatn of children this is my pot not ur so believe eat u want to believe. well i dont re about gay people, s not like they h on any random du, theyre basilly chicks their own md, except they have dicks lol aslong as they dont say anythg to me, i dont re about them and them gettg married, s not like jt bee s ok to be gay, im gonna go gay, no way, im all about psy.

ROMAS ZABARSKAS: THE GAY LHUANIAN FILMMAKER MAKG A MEAT-EE MOVIE

Gay rights activists and anizers are vilified Catholic Vilni; meanwhile, largely Catholic Mexi has legalized same sex marriage and Brazilian megapolis San Paolo hosted the world's largt pri event wh over three ln participants early June.

(Thomson Rters Foundatn) - Lhuania looks set to legalise same-sex civil partnerships next year, but gay marriage uld be up to a away, acrdg to the untry’s only openly LGBT+ lawmaker - elected this year after appearg on the mpaign trail full Baltic natn’s nstutn says marriage n only be between a man and a woman, and Tomas Raskevici said a nstutnal amendment allowg same-sex marriage would stggle to ga enough support the next few is nfint, however, that registered partnerships for same-sex upl will bee law before the next parliamentary electn due 2024. Although gay sex was legalised 1993, mon wh many other former Soviet untri, LGBT+ people are still unable to adopt children and a law preventg the discsn of homosexualy wh mors remas on the statute “Protectn of Mors” law is beg nsired by the European Court of Human Rights, but Raskevici said was his “prcipal posn...

“We get to this vic circle bee LGBT people don’t have the chance to e out and then society don’t have the chance to meet them real life, and then they hold certa negative stereotyp about this muny, ” Raskevici DRAGLhuania’s first openly gay MP was Rokas Zilskas, who died 2017, but Raskevici was the first to clare his sexualy before enterg the untry’s only openly LGBT+ lawmaker, Raskevici - who donned drag as he nvassed support for October’s electn to challenge “stereotyp about LGBT people” - regnis the need to be a role he remas a reluctant one. LGL subsequently submted s shadow report on the LGBT* human rights suatn the untry to the UN and met wh 25 different ernment reprentativ at the UN office Geneva, urgg them to draw the Lhuanian ernment’s attentn to human rights vlatns agast LGBT* persons the monly vlated rights Lhuania clu:Right to Freedom of ExprsnRight to Equaly and Non-discrimatnRight to EdutnRight to Freedom of Peaceful AssemblyRight to Life, Liberty and Secury of a PersonRight to PrivacyRight to HealthAnti-gay propaganda legislatnThe Law on the Protectn of Mors agast the Detriment Effect of Public Informatn, which is clud Lhuanian legislatn, reads that “public rmatn shall be attributed to rmatn which has a trimental effect on mors […] which exprs ntempt for fay valu, enurag the ncept of entry to a marriage and creatn of a fay other than stipulated the Constutn and the Civil Co”.

GAY DICTNARY LHUANIAN

XIIP-687 seeks to tablish that the cricism of homosexualy and attempts to change someone’s sexual orientatn would not qualify as discrimatn or harassment on the ground of sexual orientatn.

News portalsGayle publish a wi range of LGBTQ related articl, media, and d-visual material [ Lhuanian] Summer of Sangaile (Sangailės vasara), Lhuanian language drama film directed by Alantė Kavaė.

- fightg for equaly, not jt for gay men and lbians and bisexuals and transgenr people, but for people on the basis of their age, their relign, their belief, their genr, anythg that is perceived to be different that uld be ed to take equaly away om them.

GAY DATG UKRAE

Strongly nmns the forced disappearanc, arbrary tentns, torture and other human rights vlatns targeted at voic of dissent, cludg journalists, human rights fenrs, polil opponents and crics, as well as lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr people, unr the ernment of Print Yahya Jammeh; lls for any prisoners taed munido to be eher brought to trial or released;.