Gay rights the European Unn: The long journey out of the closet for Lhuania’s gay muny | Internatnal | EL PAÍS English

Contents:

• THE BEST LHUANIA GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS LHUANIA
• THE BEST VILNI GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS VILNI
• GAY VILNI
• GAY LIFE LHUANIA
• SURPRISG HISTORY OF FIRST UNRGROUND GAY CLUBS LHUANIA
• WEIRST, MOST ENTERTAG, FUNNIT GAY CLUB EXPERIENCE MY LIFE
• THE LONG JOURNEY OUT OF THE CLOSET FOR LHUANIA’S GAY MUNY
• GAY RIGA
• A GAY UPLE RAN A RAL RTRANT PEACE. THEN NEW NEIGHBORS ARRIVED.

THE BEST LHUANIA GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS 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. One participant, speakg out agast homosexuals, said, "Of urse, they will soon anise a march Vilni and therefore we need to ensure advance will not be possible. 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.

In fact, homophobic jok and allns are monplace Vilni' prs, where daily tabloid Vakaro Zs ('The Eveng News') routely refers to gays as 'chickenpricks. Perhaps the most shockg factoid me om a 2003 poll which revealed that 68% of Lhuanians would prefer to live next door to a dg aler or nvicted crimal than a homosexual. Until 1993, was still illegal to be homosexual Lhuania, and the law was only then repealed bee of prsure om the Council of Europe, which Lhuania was tryg to jo.

THE BEST VILNI GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS VILNI

" 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). Lol anisatns like the Lhuanian Lbian and Gay League (LLGL) have been quietly meetg and orchtratg sensisatn mpaigns, semars and bat for over a . 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. For gay travellers to Vilni, the cy has snt offergs terms of gay-iendly nightlife, wh only one official gay club (perhaps the only all of Lhuanian), but 's a doozy.

GAY VILNI

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... 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.

A lot of young handsome people, mostly gay and bisexual boys and mens, addn som lbian girls an dwimens, and some one who has not sid yet, or are cure for what they want.

Please be assured, that gay people, along wh their straight iends, will never stop fightg for equaly and for the realisatn that is not a bad thg to love someone of the same sex. I saw Gay Pri Vilni and was very strange - small, shy monstratn wh most foreign people (also wh Polish supporters) lookg like a prott of workers of a supermarket. I have personally enuntered an unpleasant scene sna when a young fay wh children were forced to leave bee gay uple were almost havg sex there takg no regard of the others.

GAY LIFE LHUANIA

I mean, such nduct is highly improper not only for heterosexuals but also for homosexuals, and I wouldn't be happy to see the heterosexual uple matg somewhere near. 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. While the society is very plex and diverse, the qutns to ask is what homosexuals want to monstrate by marchg the streets, and whether is effective changg the attu homophob.

SURPRISG HISTORY OF FIRST UNRGROUND GAY CLUBS LHUANIA

Double standards and if you feel that strongly about GAYS pull out of rope, Oh and give up the money you get om NO NEVER so eher get wh OR SHUT UP. How funny when people say 'gays are not wele Viln' bee gay people are already uld be your doctor, your tacher, the person who cleans your hoe or l the untry. ankly, what do you thk, if you wre gayish ments here, won't there be more tourists Vilni who are sick of perverts, than there would be gays and their supporters overall?

WEIRST, MOST ENTERTAG, FUNNIT GAY CLUB EXPERIENCE MY LIFE

OPEN that pathetic closed md of yours and face embrace realy and the very lovely people and MY iends that are gay and thank god for them and the add diversy of life. 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.

Many Lhuanians who have worked the UK, where LGBT people are more accepted, have worked wh gays, noticed they are no different to straights, and lost their homophobic opns. Well im staright and i dont really see what all the fs is about we are all equal so what if gays disgtg i agree that they are but we all need 2 jt get along. 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.

Rabow Days would have been LT's first gay pri event, but was ncelled at the beht of the major and her program of protectg homophob rather than sexual mori. 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. A story about gay Lhuanian life is a paful one wh twists and turns of anti-gay parliament legislators agast nstutnal urt judg and urageo gay activists the streets.

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

The ntroversy about gay rights and discrimatn has rulted a legislative ‘war’ between Lhuanian prejudicial anti-gay statut and the European Unn’s standards of tolerance and equaly. 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. Acrdg to a survey by soclogists specializg genr issu, 38 percent of Lhuanians would distance themselv om a iend who revealed his or her homosexualy to them. 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.

“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.

GAY RIGA

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. On several ocsns, the municipali of the larger Lhuanian ci have halted attempts ma by the Lhuanian gay associatn to rm the public about homosexualy.

In Knas, Lhuania’s send largt cy, was forbidn to affix large ads to the trolleyb wh the followg slogans: “A lbian n be a teacher”, and “A policeman n be gay”. 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”.

The headl the Lhuanian media the past five years have prented the nflict between gays and straights dramatic tail, sometim biased agast and sometim tolerant.

A GAY UPLE RAN A RAL RTRANT PEACE. THEN NEW NEIGHBORS ARRIVED.

Soho gay club ( Vilni) after London’s venu feels like a Soviet Unn’s basement club for old pervs to be hont Men’s Factory is not a gay club anymore. 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. Another ment, om Dunn, offers a more balanced view his ments: “I am a gay UK man and have vised LT many tim, and am aware that Lhuania is a homophobic untry.