A 37-year-old man from Vilnius has been ordered in court to pay a fine of 450 euros (1560 Lithuanian litas) for a comment he posted under an article on Facebook about the world-famous singer Lady Gaga’s criticism of the Lithuanian Government.
According to Delfi.lt, the First District Court of Vilnius City judged that, in his public comment about gays, the man, currently employed as a furniture assembler, employed inflammatory rhetoric and encouraged mockery, defiance, discrimination and physical violence against a group of people or its members on the grounds of sexual orientation. Investigation into the comment was started after prosecutors received notification about it from Lithuanian Gay League (LGL).
The article concerned Lady Gaga’s performance in connection with Gay Pride events in Rome, during which she criticized governments of countries that violate the rights of homosexual people, including Lithuania.
The market research company RAIT has conducted a poll on civil partnership among 1003 Lithuanian inhabitants aged from 15 to 74. The survey, commissioned by the Baltic News Service, was carried out in November 2011.
According to the survey, seven out of ten Lithuanians believe that civil partnership status should be made legal, but only between a man and a woman. Only 4% of the respondents agree with a legal civil partnership model that would apply to both same-sex and heterosexual couples. Respondents with higher education, with an income of over 1100 LTL and younger respondents are more likely to approve of homosexual partnership. A quarter of the respondents (25%) believe that civil partnership should not be recognized at all.
On 21 December, the Lithuanian Parliament (Seimas) accepted a draft amendment to the Constitution which states that “the family is created by a free marriage agreement between a man and woman”, with 62 members of Seimas in favour and 8 against. The proposal will next be considered by the Committee on Legal Affairs, and is due to be presented back to Seimas for approval in spring. The Human Rights Committee also wanted to analyse the proposal, but the Seimas did not agree to this.
On the 8th of December LGL had the pleasure to host a visitation from a Swedish Green Party delegation, who were on a fact-finding tour of Lithuania, including visits to NGOs.
The guests were a group of 8 persons, with a broad representation including members of parliament, county council members, city council members and special advisors with a special interest in gender equality and equal rights.
Strasbourg, 09.12.2011 - Council of Europe Secretary General Thorbjørn Jagland today warned that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Europeans continue to face discrimination in many parts of the continent.
“Homosexuality has been decriminalised all over Europe, but prejudice and hypocrisy still exist towards LGBT persons in Europe. Recently, discriminatory laws have been proposed or even adopted, in member states such as in Lithuania, Ukraine and in some regions of the Russian Federation. This is a violation of basic human rights and a set back to the progress we have achieved in promoting and protecting human dignity,” he said.
December 9, 2011 – For this historic moment in the LGBT movement, the Council for Global Equality was privileged to bring 14 prominent LGBT activists from around the world to Geneva to be present for Secretary Clinton’s Human Rights Day speech. The Council applauds both Secretary Clinton for the pitch-perfect speech as well as President Obama for yesterday’s vital Presidential Memorandum addressing the human rights of LGBT people worldwide.
Reactions from LGBT human rights defenders from around the world who were on hand to witness the speech included these:
On 6th of December Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in her speech at the United Nations in Geneva called on all countries to respect the civil rights of LGBT individuals.
She talked about why countries need to recognize LGBT rights and treat them as regular human rights. “Being LGBT does not make you less human," Clinton said to the audience, which included delegates from countries that criminalize homosexuality. “And that is why gay rights are human rights, and human rights are gay rights".
She also mentioned violations of gay rights LGBT people are an “invisible minority” who are “routinely arrested, beaten, terrorized, even executed.”
more
Two hens or two roosters cannot lay an egg. This idea was voiced on Wednesday (30/11/2011) at the Committee on Legal Affairs (CLA) of Seimas, where the draft Law on Partnership, drawn up by Marija Aušrinė Pavilionienė, was discussed. The CLA decided that the proposal of the Member of Parliament, according to which partnerships could be concluded by same-sex persons, possibly contradicts the Constitution.
The Department of Legal Affairs of Seimas assessed the proposal and stated that the submitted draft possibly contradicts the Constitution. According to the lawyers of Seimas, the Constitutional Court equates partnership to family, and family relations may only be formed between two heterosexual persons – a man and a woman.
The Minister of Justice came up with suggestion to adopt discriminatory legal partnership model in Lithuania, which would allow to protect interests of heterosexual couples only.
Draft law suggests property regime for unmarried partners very similar to the one of married couples. All property, gained while living together, would be common and would belong to each partner in equal parts, except property, which was gained separately before starting living together, was inherited or gained in other foreseen exceptional cases. In order to sell or to give common property, an agreement from other partner will be needed. Property regulation will differ from marriage in case of inheritance - partners will not be able to inherit each other’s property and will not get various allowances (e.g. widow allowance) as well as mutual support obligation will not be required.
Can a young man serve in the Army, making no secret he is a homosexual? Such question is raised by country’s LGBT community after receiving a conclusion from the Ombudsman of Equal opportunities. Though Ministry of National Defense (MoND) claims that common principles of non-discrimination are enough and says never heard of possible discrimination based on sexual orientation, Ombudsman Aušrinė Burneikienė recommended to regulate this issue in the Soldier Code of Conduct in a more clear way.
Investigation on possible breach of Equal opportunities law was started when a complaint was received from a young woman. Law obliges institutions to assure that legal acts issued by them implement equal rights and opportunities regardless of gender, race, nationality, language, origin, social status, religion, beliefs or attitudes, age, sexual orientation or disability.
The author of the complaint had missed a clear statement about non-discrimination based on sexual orientation in the Soldier Code of Conduct. This document commits serving soldier “to respect and protect each person’s dignity and main rights and liberties, irrespective of his/her nationality or origin, social status, political, religious views”.
