Just not in Baltic countries. If my colleague is talking about adoption problems as the big issue, you have to look here, where being gay can cost you a job, friends, family or even a life. Thought things are getting a bit better in here, because in May there will be organized the first Baltic Pride event in Riga - it’s just a small step, for LGBT people.
Why is an event like this such a huge step for the Baltics? Well, the pre-story can be interpreted in various ways.
Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, is already known for its “gay friendly” environment. Absurd attitude already started in late 2007. During the annual gay rights conference in Vilnius not only smoke bombs were flying to the conference rooms, but also the Gay rally was banned, because it was “unsafe to have a public event during reconstruction of old town”. That’s only beginning.
After a few months another scandal blew up. Vilnius mayor Juozas Imbrasas (already famous for his homophobic decisions) banned EU campaigns “For diversity. Against discrimination” event in the capital. Anti-discrimination truck tours most of the EU countries and the first time ever government banned it. Just one keyword “homosexuality” was the point. No one cared, that the trucks aim was to promote diversity, but as Juozas Imbrasas stated later: “We disapprove of the public display of homosexualists (sic)’ ideas in the city of Vilnius”.
And here comes the “funny” part. This spring Lithuanian parliament Seimas will come back to the legislation project, which would ban what they call the “propagation of homosexuality” to minors. That means banning films, articles, websites or even this blog post that talks about homosexual relationship. Till now nobody knows if your article telling story about gay couple or reportage from Gay Pride will be banned because of “propaganda”. Of course, such government move was strongly criticized by European Commission. But… Who cares? According to BBC Rima Baskiene, the head of the Seimas Commission for Family and Child Affairs, says:
They (homosexuals) should just not be promoted
What should I ad? The Dark Ages are coming back. What we can expect from Baltic Pride? And does anyone care about European Commission critics to the local governments? Probably all these questions will be answered this spring.
(29 votes, average: 4.38 out of 5)
Loading ...
[...] Velykis Originally published on ThinkAboutIt VN:F [1.0.9_379]please wait…Rating: 0.0/10 (0 votes [...]