Organizations representing LGBT and traditional families will organize protests near the Seimas

For its part, the National Association of Parents and Families, which organized a protest at the same place a few hours earlier, is also interested in expressing concern about the threats to Lithuanian schoolchildren. Only, in their opinion, because of the opposite, the topics related to sexuality in the life skills curriculum.

Vladimir Simonko, head of the Lithuanian Gay League, says that around 100 people should gather for a protest at the Seimas tomorrow. According to him, during the event, parliamentarians will be urged to repeal the provision of the Law on the Protection of Minors from the Negative Effects of Public Information, which has repeatedly restricted information related to the LGBT community. This, emphasizes V. Simonko, is a discriminatory provision that causes obvious harm to Lithuanian children.

“We have been raising a question about this provision of the law for a long time. It does not really have a positive effect on the students. Information about LGBT persons is not available to schoolchildren now,” the LGL leader told Elta.

On the contrary, he emphasized, the conducted studies show that the well-being of schoolchildren belonging to the LGBT community is deteriorating.

“We conducted a study in schools and showed that the absence of this issue creates an unsafe atmosphere for LGBT students. It is no secret that there are LGBT students in our schools. That’s a fact. What should they do when they hear offensive comments? Our research shows that the situation in schools is getting worse. The well-being of LGBT schoolchildren is getting worse,” he said, adding that the initiative taken by the Seimas to abandon the topic of sexuality in the life skills program should also be very critically evaluated.

According to V. Simonkos, it is necessary to understand that the information about LGBT people, which is based on stereotypes and manipulations, is really harmful. According to him, this happens during “religious lessons” in schools.

“Students complain about the fact that they are given distorted information during religious classes. We all remember the story when the teacher told about gay cannibals. Such things cannot happen”, he said, emphasizing that this is why it is necessary to abandon restrictions on the dissemination of LGBT-related information.

This issue has already been addressed before Ministry of Justicehaving submitted amendments to the law, with which it is proposed to cancel the provision mentioned by V. Simonkos.

ELTA reminds that it was based on this provision that a children’s book describing the love of homosexual couples was banned in Lithuania in 2013. With this legislative initiative, the Ministry of Justice proposes to implement the decision of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in the case of “Amber Heart”.

“We congratulate the Ministry of Justice, which took this initiative – to submit an amendment to the Government”, V. Simonko stated, noting that this proposal will probably find its way through the Seimas with difficulty.

“The biggest problem will be in the Seimas, because the situation shows that not the whole parliament is on the LGBT side. Therefore, our goal is to send a message to the Seimas”, said the head of LGL.

On the same day, next to the Seimas, the National Association of Families and Parents organizes a picket against the teaching of the Life Skills Program in schools. As the representative of the organization Žydrūnė Marčiulionienė stated to Elta, the association repeatedly demanded public objections to the Life Skills Program, but neither the parliament nor the Ministry of Education, Science and Sports (ŠMSM) responded to the comments.

“We participated in the preparation of that program since 2016. But our comments have been ignored all along – the family training part has been removed from this program. Our letter was submitted to the members of the Seimas and the Ministry – seven organizations signed it. Unfortunately, there is no response. Therefore, we use democratic means and mobilize non-governmental organizations”, said Ž. Eltai. Marčiulionienė.

“It is not some kind of desire, likes or dislikes. There are serious arguments and in a democratic state we want to express them in a democratic way,” she asserted.

The representative of the association said that the initiative is supported by approximately 40 different non-governmental organizations. According to her, this proves that the opinion and attitude of a large part of the public towards the teaching of the Life Skills Program is represented.

However, Ž. Marčiulionienė indicated that it is difficult to predict how many people will choose to picket the Seimas on Thursday.

“It’s difficult to plan, because the municipality has allocated only one hour – after us there will be a picket of the Lithuanian Gay League. It’s really complicated – there should be at least one or two representatives from each organization,” she mused.

It is asked whether the picket organized by the association is like a response to the LGL meeting, Ž. Marčiulionienė said that LGL submitted requests to organize a rally to the municipality earlier.

“As far as I know – at least the municipality told us – that they already reserved that day. Probably because of the fact that (in the Seimas – ELTA) the law on the protection of minors from the effects of harmful information will be considered. Probably, the gay league was aware of this and they took care of it in advance,” she said.

The representative of Vilnius city municipality, Gabrielius Grubinskas, confirmed to Elta that picketing permits were issued to both LGL and the National Association of Families and Parents. However, he noted that the gatherings will take place at different times.

“According to the issued permits, both public meetings will not take place at the same time – the National Association of Parents and Families has a permit from 9:30 to 10:30, and the Lithuanian Gay League – from 11:30 to 1 p.m.,” G. Grubinskas points out in a comment to Elta.