■ The nine protestors outside the ILGA-Europe conference venue yesterday. photo courtesy ILGA-Europe

VILNIUS, October 27, 2007  –  Last weekend, the Latvia-based Russia-speaking New Generation Church staged a conference near Seattle under the guise of its off-shoot Watchmen on the Walls.

This weekend, the New Generation Church’s Lithuanian branch took to the streets to protest the International Lesbian and Gay Association Europe annual conference in Vilnius.

Yesterday, the small band of the church’s supporters gathered outside the ILGA-Europe conference venue to protest what they called “propaganda of homosexuality”.

“While the participants were brainstorming and conducting discussions at the morning workshops, nine protesters gathered outside the conference venue,” said Juris Lavrikovs, communications officer at ILGA-Europe

“These people were protesting against our conference as they believed it was “propaganda of homosexuality”.  They were holding such banners as “Go Home” and “Lithuanian will be no-gay zone”.  Some protesters were wearing t-shirts with a slogan “No to propaganda of homosexualism”.

“On the streets they were also asking passers by to sign a petition calling on the Lithuanian parliament to ban “homosexual propaganda”,” he added.

“The protesters were reasonably peaceful and many of them engaged in conversations with the security guards and even the conference participants.

“During the coffee break some conference participants equipped with smiles took their organisation’s banners and small rainbow flags and peacefully stood opposite the protesters.  There was no confrontation, all were smiling and fascinated by the need of those nine people to come to protest against the conference.”

While nine protestors might seem a paltry number, it should be noted that, according to Lithuanian law on demonstrations say that there is no need for official permission for protests involving up to nine people, Mr. Lavrikovs pointed out.

“A police van was present during this protest and they were ensuring that there were no confrontations or any other attempts to disturb the order,” he continued.  “The police were also using video camera to monitor the protesters.

“When talking to the protesters we also learned that they were from the evangelical church New Generation whose centre is based in neighbouring Latvia and which was behind huge homophobic hysteria for the last few years in Latvia,” he said.

In the early hours of Friday morning, reports that a nightclub was attacked by a smoke bomb and linked to the ILGA-Europe conference.  While there were delegates reported to have been in the club, it is not thought that the incident was linked to the conference.

The club has been attacked on two previous occasions prior to the conference.

■ The New Generation Church, which has it headquarters in Riga, is run by Alexey Ledyaev.  Among the other well know personalities associated with the virulently homophobic church are the former NFL linebacker turned preacher Ken Hutcherson and lawyer Scott Lively, the author of The Pink Swastika – the book that infamously blames the Holocaust on German gay men.

All three are closely connected with Watchmen on the Walls.

SEE ALSO

The Yogyakarta Principles: Rapporteur Addresses Gay Conference.  Transcript of the address given to the International Lesbian and Gay Association Europe’s annual conference yesterday by Michael O’Flaherty, rapporteur for development of the Yogyakarta Principles.  Mr. O’Flaherty is professor of applied human rights and co-director of the human rights laws centre at the University of Nottingham, UK.  He is also a member of the United Nations Human Rights Committee.  (UK Gay News, October 27, 2007)

Amnesty Dismayed by Vilnius Mayor’s Decision to Ban Gay Rally.  Amnesty International said this afternoon that it was deeply concerned by yesterday’s attacks on the gay community in Vilnius, which saw the mayor ban a rally and an unconfirmed smoke bomb attack on an evening social event that formed part of the ILGA-Europe annual conference.  (UK Gay News, October 26, 2007)

Banning of Gay Public Event ‘Outrageous’, Say ILGA-Europe Chiefs.  Senior officials of the International Lesbian and Gay Association Europe today slammed both the Vilnius city authorities and a local court for banning a public “rainbow flag” event in the city during the association’s annul conference, calling the situation “outrageous”. (UK Gay News, October 25, 2007)

Janis Smits Initially Rebuffed by Council of Europe While His Religious Pals Plan Anti-Gay Hate Mission to USA.  Commentary.  Never let it be said that the movers and shakers in the Council of Europe (CoE) lack guts.  This week, Andreas Gross, rapporteur of the Judicial and Human Rights Committee of the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly (PACE), was in Latvia and invited the Latvian Parliamentary Social Affairs and Human Rights Committee to lunch.  (UK Gay News, October 12, 2007)

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Posted: 27 October 2007 at 16:00 (UK time)