By Ellen M. Rice
VILNIUS, December 16, 2008 (LifeSiteNews) – An amendment that the Lithuanian Parliament added to its protection of minors statutes last week says that “public information that agitates for homosexual relations” causes “a detrimental effect on the development of minors” and “defies family values.”
The story was largely ignored by the English speaking press, but the UK’s homosexual news source, Pink News, states that the homosexual rights group Tolerant Youth Association (TJA) believes the law will ban homosexual websites, films such as Brokeback Mountain, discos, exhibitions, demonstrations and other public events.
The law is set to be approved by a parliamentary committee and take effect next year. The Council of Europe formally expressed concern about Lithuania in April 2008, because of regulations against “Gay Pride” marches, rainbow flag displays, and the refusal to let the European Year of Equal Opportunity for All campaign’s “anti-discrimination truck” tour the city of Vilnius.
Lithuanian law mirrors the population’s adherence to Catholicism, which forbids homosexual activity while commanding that charity be shown to all homosexual persons. In 2004, upon its entrance into the EU, Lithuania passed laws forbidding employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.