Sweden‘s Minister for European Union Affairs Birgitta Ohlsson said she would take part in the Baltic Pride events.
“I will be one of the participants who will give speeches. I also call for more people to participate. I’m going to try to gather my colleagues at the Ministry of European Union Affairs to join me. I know that more people are interested. It is important to attract more politicians to the event,“ she said, urging authorities to assure participants‘ safety.
Dozens of European human rights activists and politicians are expected to attend Baltic Pride. Among them, a member of the German Bundestag Volker Beck. The organizers have received a letter of support from Klaus Wowereit, the mayor of Berlin, who expressed hope for a peaceful and successful event and apologized for not being able to participate due to prior engagements. In a letter to Minister of Justice Remigijus Šimašius, Laurids Mikaelsen, Danish ambassador to Lithuania, also urged to guarantee the safety of Baltic Pride.
Speaking of the values of democracy and open society, Ms Ohlsson claimed that it is as important for her to attend Baltic Pride as Independence Day commemoration on the 11th of March. Being a liberal politician she finds it important to stress that the rights of sexual minorities are not exceptional but part of the human rights.
Ms Ohlsson‘s comparison, however, outraged a couple of signatories of the March 11 Independence Declaration Algirdas Patackas and Liudas Simutis. “To our mind, such an attitude, especially on the eve of the celebration, is insulting to the Lithuanian state, the nation, its ethic traditions as well as to us, the signatories of March 11 Independence Declaration,” – they wrote in an open letter to Audronius Ažubalis, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, urging him to take „necessary diplomatic measures.“
Vilnius city authorities cancelled their previous permission to hold Baltic Pride March next to Vilnius Hall for Concerts and Sports. The Department of Cultural Heritage as well as Lithuanian Jewish community have objected to the event taking place in the site of former Jewish cemetery. Instead the organizers were offered to assemble in a parking lot on the corner of Olimpiečių and Rinktinės streets. The organizers see the proposed location contrary to the idea of the event. Vladimir Simonko, the chairman of Lithuanian Gay League, commented: “We applied to hold a march, not to park multi-coloured cars. Furthermore, the route of the march was shortened and squeezed into a contained space.”
By contrast, the opponents of Baltic Pride were granted a permission to assemble in front of the Vilnius Municipality building. The protesters will be holding a protest on the 29th of March in an attempt to make the authorities cancel the permit to an event that, in the words of Edmundas Girskis, one of the initiators, goes against “the traditional morality of our nation.” Last year, Girskis was convicted of inciting hatred against sexual minorities.
Simonko sees the authorities as applying double standards, adding ironically: “Here we have an excellent example of democracy. They (the organizers of the protest) probably won‘t have to put up any fences or hire private security firms.“
Recently Baltic Pride has become the focus point of most public debate. The Mayor of Vilnius who issued the permit to organize the March of Baltic Pride has been immensely criticized and had to explain himself. The Mayor is defending himself and he says he issued the permit unwillingly. To calm down the debate he expressed his vision of Baltic Pride: “We will surround the territory with fences, put lots of police forces around. The participants will have the chance to wave hands for an hour and then they can go away. We don’t have to look at it, we don’t need to take part in it”.
The members of the parliament are unhappy with the Baltic Pride too. One of them, V. Stundys says the homosexuals only want to demonstrate themselves, encourage their lifestyle and advertise themselves. He says the March is propaganda and a provocation. The chairperson of the Parliament, I. Degutienė is in revolt too; she claims the Baltic Pride is incompatible with the catholic tradition in Lithuania. Another Parliamentarian, M. Adomėnas who always stresses his bonds in the past with the University of Cambridge calls the March “a carnival of perversion and resentment”.
The Parliamentarian E. Vareikis who attendedthe Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe stated that gays and lesbians in Lithuania are not discriminated against – they can have families and adopt children. E. Vareikis must have confused his own country with some other Western society because Lithuanian LGBT community definitely does not have such rights. Even more, E. Vareikis applied Darwin’s theory of Evolution to homosexuality: “In Darwin’s concept homosexuality is a problem – it’s the decline of biodiversity. Therefore, Darwinians cannot support homosexuality”.
More and more is being discussed about an open society, tolerance and Human Rights that shall be respected, however the conservative intellectuals are annoyed by that. They try to frighten the society by warning about the imminent “liberal totalitarianism” that will undermine God and morality.
Recently J. Dalhuisen, the representative of the international Human Rights organisation “Amnesty International”, visited Vilnius. The main aim of the visit was to express support for the Lithuanian LGBT community.
“We think that the LGBT community is under threat, not all of its rights are respected. This community does not enjoy any extra rights; they are the same as of everybody else. However, in many instances they are undermined. We are concerned about the situation in Lithuania. The seriousness of situation has been particularly well revealed by statements of some homophobic politicians and public figures. It established a better environment for intolerance which has not only been felt by the LGBT community but also implemented in law”- said J. Dalhuisen during his interview in Vilnius.
The representative of “Amnesty International” also mentioned the Baltic pride which should be permitted to be held in the city centre, not in the suburbs. On the other hand, J. Dalhuisen stressed that homophobia is encouraged by lack of voice from the LGBT supporters.
On Thursday, the 28th of January, the Ambassador of the USA in Vilnius, Anne E. Darse expressed support for the decision of the Municipality to issue a permit for the Baltic Pride March. The ambassador also presented a message from President Barack Obama regarding the rights of gay people.
“<…> in the name of the USA the Ambassador supported the decision of the City Council to permit the march “For Equality”. She also stressed that the position of Lithuania’s capital completely coincides with the position of the USA regarding this issue”- is stated in the announcement by the City Council.
The municipality of Vilnius has issued the permit to organize the Baltic Pride march, however in a different location. The new route stretches along Olimpiečių and Rinktinės streets down to the car park near Vilnius Hall for Concerts and Sports that is closed down. The Department for Cultural Heritage has expressed a disapporovement, because this is where the old Jewish graveyard was and the Department does not approve any mass events in this location.
On Friday, the 22nd of January, the application for a permit to organize the Baltic Pride 2010 „March for equality“ has been submitted to the Municipality of Vilnius. The date and time was chosen to be the 8th of May, 1-1.30 pm.
The application indicates that the march would follow a short route between the „Conti“ hotel and the Vilnius City Hall. It is also stressed that the march would be the culmination of the events held during 5-9th of May. In the end a massive rainbow flag would be unveilled too.
The Embassy of Luxemburg in Warsaw has expressed great interest and support to the Baltic Pride 2010 in Vilnius. So far the embassy has proposed to contribute significantly to the film festival planned during the Baltic Pride. They are suggesting to screen the film “House of Boys” by Jean-Claude Schlim which won the Luxemburg Film Award in the category “Best Film” on the 4th of December. The Embassy kindly offered to cover all expenses related to the screening. Even more, they would ensure the presence of the Director who has already manifested his interest in travelling to Vilnius.
Tolerant Youth Association, Lithuanian Gay League and the volunteers are very thankful for this generous offer and we are looking forward to watching the movie as well as meeting the Director himself!
In response to a formal invitation to join us at the Baltic Pride 2010 in Vilnius, the co-presidents Michael Cashman and Ulrike Lunacek of the intergroup on LGBT rights within the European Parliament wrote:
“Pride marches are an important time of the year, where countries and cities come under national and international scrutiny on their acceptance of sexual and gender minorities. We believe there is a real need for the presence of elected officials, showing their open support and the importance of LGBT issues at the highest level, as well as reinforcing the principle of universal human rights for everyone in Europe.
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