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MEPs to Quiz European Council and Commission on Lithuanian ‘Anti Gay’ Law

STRASBOURG, September 16, 2009  –  MEPs are set to quiz officials from the European Council of Ministers and the European Commission at the plenary session of the European Parliament this afternoon on the controversial ‘anti-gay’ legislation passed by the Lithuanian Seimas (Parliament) last summer.

The legislation being questioned is the Law on the Protection of Minors Against the Detrimental Effect of Public Information.

Likened to the infamous ‘Section 28’ of the Local Government Act in UK, introduced by the Thatcher administration and repealed by the Blair government, the Lithuanian legislation goes much further.

It even prohibits the media from any ‘positive’ coverage of gay matters if children are likely to have access to the article or broadcast.

Article 4 of the legislation classifies “propaganda of homosexuality, bisexuality” as one of the “detrimental effectors”

MEPs from the Greens/European Free Alliance, European United Left – Nordic Green Left and Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats groups have tabled oral questions.

The Lithuanian legislation was originally passed in June, but it was vetoed by former President Valdas Adamkus.  The matter, under the Lithuanian constitution, was returned to the Seimas and was again passed, with some alterations which strengthened its “anti-gay” aspect.

It then went to the new president, Dalia Grybauskaitė – a former European Commissioner for Financial Programming and the Budget, who was forced to sign the legislation under the country’s constitution.  It comes into effect next spring.

The law caused outrage across most EU countries – and beyond.

“Lithuania has taken a huge step backward for human rights by enacting this law,” Cary Alan Johnson the executive director of the New York-based International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) said last July.

“Not only does it stifle the free expression of all people, but it could actively prevent children from getting a comprehensive and accurate sexual education, which is vital to their health and lives.”

In London, Amnesty International called on the Lithuanian government to uphold its international human rights obligations and repeal the discriminatory.

Amnesty LGBT campaigner Kim Manning-Cooper said: “By adopting this deeply homophobic legislation, the Lithuanian authorities have taken a huge step backwards” and that Amnesty was “seriously concerned” that the new law will institutionalise homophobia and could be used to prohibit any legitimate discussion of homosexuality, impede the work of human rights defenders and further the stigmatisation of and prejudice against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.

Equally scathing was the International Gay and Lesbian Youth Organisation which expressed “outrage” at the law, describing it as “a piece of legislation that goes against the fundamental human rights of minors and those who work with them”.

The oral questions from MEPs will come during the afternoon session of the plenary between 15:00 and 18:00 central European time (14:00 and 17:00 in UK).  According to the agenda, the questions come towards the end of the session.

Among the MEPs who have tabled the questions are Sophia in 't Veld, Sarah Ludford, Raül Romeva i Rueda, Jean Lambert, Michael Cashman and Claude Moraes

■ To view the plenary session live thought the European Parliament's streaming video, click HERE. The sound is defaulted to English, but all other EU languages are available - select the language just below the video.

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