A bill similar to Russia’s federal gay-propaganda law, which would have banned Pride parades and public statements and campaign materials supporting LGBT rights, has been blocked by Lithuania’s parliament, BuzzFeed reports.
According to the report, Member of Parliament Petras Graulis, who proposed the amendment to Lithuania’s criminal code, criticized Conservative party legislators for abandoning their political values and switching their sexual orientation.
The bill is one of a number of measures that are reportedly up for consideration by the country’s parliament this spring, the Lithuanian Gay League (LGL) says. Another measure, spearheaded by Graulis and a colleague, calls for those organizing public events like Pride to cover all costs related to public order and security. A third seeks to amend a law governing the “fundamentals of protection of the rights of the child” to ban adoptions by gay couples.
A fourth would amend the criminal code so that “criticism of sexual behaviour or sexual practices, convictions or beliefs, or persuasion to change this behaviour, practices, convictions” would no longer be considered “harassment, denigration, incitement to hatred, discrimination or incitement to discrimination,” the LGL states.
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