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

Contents:

• THE LONG JOURNEY OUT OF THE CLOSET FOR LHUANIA’S GAY MUNY
• GAY VILNI
• THE BEST VILNI GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS VILNI
• GAY LIFE LHUANIA
• GAY VILNIUS
• GAY AND GAY-IENDLY HOTELS LHUANIA
• THE BEST LHUANIA GAY CLUBS & BARSSEE ALL THGS TO DOGAY CLUBS & BARS LHUANIA
• GAY IENDLY HOTELS LHUANIA
• GAY RIGA
• FD GAY FRIENDLY HOTELS LHUANIA
• WILL THE MAJOR VICTORY MATė V. LHUANIA CONVCE SEIMAS TO REPEAL THE “ANTI-GAY PROPAGANDA” PROVISN?

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. 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.

GAY VILNI

“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.

THE BEST VILNI GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS 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⚭✖ UnregnizedChangg Genr✔ Legal, surgery not requiredNon-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. Ambiguo “Gay propaganda” is -facto banned sce 2009 but the law has not been enforced for a long as punishmentLGBTQ+ ntent is rtricted for mors Lhuania sce 2009.

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”.

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.

GAY LIFE 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.

GAY VILNIUS

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.

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. " 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.

GAY AND GAY-IENDLY HOTELS LHUANIA

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.

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...

THE BEST LHUANIA GAY CLUBS & BARSSEE ALL THGS TO DOGAY CLUBS & BARS LHUANIA

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.

GAY IENDLY HOTELS LHUANIA

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.

GAY RIGA

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.

FD GAY FRIENDLY HOTELS LHUANIA

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. 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.

WILL THE MAJOR VICTORY MATė V. LHUANIA CONVCE SEIMAS TO REPEAL THE “ANTI-GAY PROPAGANDA” PROVISN?

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.

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?