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Lithuania Bans Information about Gays for Young People
 “We call on the European institutions to react firmly and without delay”  –  ILGA-Europe

VILNIUS, June 17, 2009  –  The Lithuania Parliament (Seimas) has passed amended legislation that bans any positive information – or “propaganda” as it is officially called – about gays.  The measure was passed by 67 of the 74 parliamentarians voting yesterday.

The legislation, the “Law on the Protection of Minors against the Detrimental Effect of Public Information”, has a clause – Article 4 – which includes “propaganda of homosexuality, bisexuality” as one of the “detrimental effectors” which, when enacted will prohibit any discussions regarding homosexuals at schools, or even in media that is accessible to children or teenagers.

According to Tolerantiško Jaunimo Asociacija (Tolerant Youth Association - TJA), an LGBT advocacy group and one of the biggest youth NGOs fighting for human rights in Lithuania, the law puts homosexuals into the same category as the “display of dead or cruelly mutilated body, information that causes fear or horror or encourages suicide”.

“Ridiculously,” TJA points out in a statement issued this morning, “the Law may even prohibit popular books, such as Brothers Grimm and other fairy tales that contain cruel scenes.

“Unproven scientific facts, such as the String Theory or the Big Bang are not to be discussed at schools, either, until verified by scientists.

“Petras Gražulis, a member of the Lithuanian Parliament, was trying not only to include homosexuals as a “detrimental effector” for the development of minors, but also to remove the point where it says that information that taunts on the basis of sexual orientation has negative impact on minors,” the statement said.

“If this amendment was accepted, any information that is taunting, mocking and providing any negative information on homosexuals would not be considered as against the law while positive information about homosexuals, or ‘propaganda’ as the authors of the legislation call it, would be banned,” the statement concluded.

ILGA-Europe said at lunchtime it was “dismayed” about such a discriminatory and backward move by Lithuanian parliament.

“Lithuania now is the only country in Europe which has such discriminatory and stigmatising legislation,” ILGA-Europe said in a statement which was likened to the highly controversial section 28 of the UK Local Government Act in the United Kingdom brought-in by the Thatcher Government in 1986. And was repealed across the UK in 2003 by the Blair administration.  

“We are shocked that the Lithuanian legislator took such a regressive step in relation to combating discrimination,” commented Linda Freimane, co-chair of ILGA-Europe’s Executive Board.

“The experience in the UK with the very similar piece of legislation has already proven how this kind of legislation directly impacts LGB people generally and young LGB people in particular.

“So it is highly hypocritical of Lithuanian MPs to say that they are not targeting homosexual and bisexual people but they are only seeking to ensure ‘peace in the community’,” she emphasised.

Martin K.I. Christensen, the other co-chair of the Executive Board, added:  “We call on the European institutions to react firmly and without delay.

“This is clearly a discriminatory and dangerous move which is against the principles of the European Union, the Council of Europe and the United Nations.

“Young people, including young LGB people, deserve the same dignity and the same right to be protected, educated, and have an opportunity to achieve their full potential.

“Instead a Member State of the European Union just legitimised exclusion and discrimination against a whole fraction of the society by instituting a second class citizenship status to young LGB people and ripped them off of any support and protection.”

The Baltic Times reported this morning that other gay community representatives and human rights workers have slammed the bill, saying that on top of being discriminatory it is not well defined and leaves open many possibilities for abuse of the law.

“Everybody could be a victim of this law,” Henrikas Mickevicius, director of the Vilnius-based Human Rights Monitoring Institute, told the Baltic Times.

“Whoever looks at this could see it differently and it could be propaganda or not – we are opening possibilities for abuses and misuses and punishments for people. This means [there are] restrictions on freedom of speech – it is a fundamental human right,” he pointed out.

The law is the peak of recent homophobic ‘outbursts’ in Lithuania, TJA said.  “The last hope for the Lithuanian gays and lesbians is the President’s veto,” the group added.

And the NGO is calling an action alert: anyone willing to stand up for the fundamental human rights in Lithuania tmight consider lobbying both the President and the speaker of Parliament.

Emails can be sent to the personal assistant of the President of Lithuania (bozena.krasovskaja@president.lt)  and to the speaker of the Parliament (arunas.valinskas@lrs.lt).

■ Yesterday’s vote in the Seimas was 67 votes for, 3 against and 4 abstained.

SEE ALSO

Baltic Times - Lithuania:
Gay Education Ban Voted In.  By Adam Mullett.  The Seimas (Lithuanian parliament) has voted to pass the amended Law on the Protection of Minors against the Detrimental Effect of Public Information, which would see information about homosexuality banned from schools and other places that can be accessed by youths.

LINK

Tolerantiško Jaunimo Asociacija website (in Lithuanian only)

 

 

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