Watch as the EU does fuck all to stop this

[Cain]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/sep/14/gay-hate-laws-lithuania

Changes to articles 310 in the penal code, and 214 in the administrative code are being debated in the Seimas (Lithuania's parliament). They will criminalise – with the threat of a fine, community work or imprisonment – anyone involved in the "promotion" of homosexuality in "any public space". This, in the words of Nicola Duckworth, Europe director at Amnesty International, is "a new low in Lithuania's slide to state-sponsored homophobia."

But what would this new law mean? That gay people in Lithuania will not be able to access health promotion material, publicly organise themselves, advertise their businesses, have a gay press, stand up for themselves in public when they are bullied, share or express their culture. It means that they will suffer more discrimination, more harassment. It also invites the question: what next (or indeed, who next?).

Like the now-abolished Section 28 in the UK, it is a bully's charter giving state approval for the harassment of a particular – and already vulnerable – set of people. But where Section 28 was largely toothless and totemic, 310 is harsh and wide-reaching. Could we next be seeing attempts to recriminalise gay sex?

Curiously, both Section 28 and these Lithuanian laws imply that not only is heterosexuality an extremely delicate flower that can wilt easily, but also that homosexuality is so very appealing that if people are told about it, they will be unable to resist plunging head on into the lifestyle, and society will, of course, collapse.

More dangerously, it positions gay people as outside, as other, alien. If you do this, then they – we – become ever more open to attack. But what is any society but a mixture of minorities and majorities? A society that turns on its minorities is really turning on itself.

Lithuanian attitudes are not out of step with those of its neighbours: across great swathes of eastern Europe, from Serbia, through Slovenia, Poland, Russia and Ukraine are places where gay people suffer terribly through discrimination, stigmatisation, violent attacks and state harassment. Polish gay pride organisers had to take their case to the European court of human rights when the Warsaw mayor banned a march. Moscow still declares such gatherings illegal. Homophobic hate crimes are frequently left uninvestigated in Belarus. Latvia's anti-pride events regularly attract more participants than prides do.

But here's the rub: unlike some countries in eastern Europe, Lithuania is a full member of the European Union. As such it has a constitutional responsibility to do what it can to eradicate discrimination.

In 1993, in order to join, it decriminalised homosexuality. Can it be allowed to roll backwards now? Lithuania should be placed under strict pressure from the EU to cast these pernicious laws out, and if it doesn't then its membership of the EU should be suspended or withdrawn. Without this, the EU is nothing more than an amoral trading bloc.

Hey, the EU doesn't give a fuck about Berlusconi's Blackshirts, or anyone's little torture programs they pretend don't exist (because we're so morally superior to the Americans, don'tcherknow), they sure as hell aren't going to give a turd about gay rights in Lithuania.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Freedom:  It's about keeping us all safe from badwrong ideas.

[Shai Hulud]

Why am I not surprised at this?

[Halfbaked1]

I used to be pretty ambivalent to the gay rights issues, but then I started to see just how much homosexuals are oppressed in Alabama alone.  Basically any place that has a very patriocentric culture, where men have traditionally called the shots, seems more liable to have situations like this.  That also means, of course, the religious right are normally involved but i have no clue what the religious situation is in Lithuania.  The question is not should we be surprised, but what can we do?  We have a platform, we are civil disobedience made incarnate so we could star adding things to promote awareness of the plight of places like California and Lithuania.  Or I could be talking out my ass...either way its just my way of looking at it.

[Jenne]

Har.  CA on par with Lithuania.  Damn.

Anyway:  what can be done?  Make a huge fucking stink, wherever you go, about it.  Don't take no for an answer.  Kick the living shit out of those who support it and tell them to gtfo and never come back.

I hear more and more how close the Prop 8 situation is to turning around in CA...but seeing's believing, satirical sites like this one notwithstanding:  http://rescuemarriage.org/ (it's really quite brilliant)

[ñͤͣ̄ͦ̌̑͗͊͛͂͗ ̸̨̨̣̺̼̣̜͙͈͕̮̊̈́̈͂͛̽͊ͭ̓͆ͅé ̰̓̓́ͯ́́͞]

BUT IF E'RYBODY WAS A HOMO SEXCHUL WE'D GO PLUM EXTINKED!
  \

[Halfbaked1]

BUT IF E'RYBODY WAS A HOMO SEXCHUL WE'D GO PLUM EXTINKED!
  \

Ugh!  I live amongst people who speak like that...the pain, the pain. 

[Reginald Ret]

I'm getting more and more motivated to become more violent, any opinions?

[Kai]

BUT IF E'RYBODY WAS A HOMO SEXCHUL WE'D GO PLUM EXTINKED!
  \

CAUZ HAMASECKZUALITEE IZ CONTAGES, EVERONE'L CATCH IT, EVEN ME!

[Requia ☣]

I'm getting more and more motivated to become more violent, any opinions?

It's bad to get caught at that sort of thing.

[Template]

I'm getting more and more motivated to become more violent, any opinions?

It's bad to get caught at that sort of thing.

I can't improve on that advice.