Saturday, September 14, 2013

Blog 1 - Lithuania and Its Anti-Gay Laws


Lithuania and Its Anti-Gay Laws

Following in Russia's recent footsteps, Lithuania's parliament has passed a bill with the intent to censor homosexuals from children, along with many other, “detrimental,” expressions. The Lithuanian government ties material that talks of “homosexual, bisexual, and polygamous relations” with “how to make explosives.” As a whole, this bill is meant to promote Catholic family values but many critics believe that the bill violates human rights and the freedom of speech as it is meant to cover television programs, video games, and advertising – any media that can be accessed by children.

The former Soviet country has always maintained an intolerance towards sexual minorities, as many Eastern European countries have, and like Russia, Lithuania wishes to create a total ban of homosexuality. This movement is led by Petras Grazulis of the right-wing populist Order and Justice Party.

Lithuania has been in the limelight recently for violating human rights, but many other Baltic countries have adopted anti-gay laws – or at least created ways to prevent events such as pride parades. This spreading violation has been condemned by the European Parliament, but Russia, Moldova, Latvia, Lithuania and the Ukraine have not listened.

And what do I think about this situation? I'm not surprised that more former communist countries are following Russia's lead when it comes to anti-gay legislature. The fact that the previous president of Lithuania attempted to veto the bill gave me some hope that not -all- government officials believe that homosexuality is a 'danger' towards 'normal' family values, but that hope dwindles day by day as more information rises to the surface suggesting that homophobia is becoming more widespread.

In this age where many countries are moving forward, legalizing gay marriage, providing government benefits to homosexual partners, it is a terrible thing that some countries are not progressing in the ways of human rights – or worse, moving backwards, as Lithuania is.

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Kaitlyn Roesel
Saturday, September 14th, 2013
1:22 AM

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