Gender Across Borders

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Last week, the Lithuanian parliament passed the “Law on the Protection of Minors against the Detrimental Effect of Public Information.” The law bans discussion of homosexuality in schools, and also prohibits references to homosexuality in any material that can be accessed by (or distributed to) children. According to Amnesty International, the law “classes homosexuality alongside issues such as the portrayal of physical or psychological violence, the display of a dead or cruelly mutilated body of a person, and information that arouses fear or horror, or encourages self-mutilation or suicide.”

The law, which will go into effect in March 2010, initially faced significant opposition. From IGLHRC:

Parliament first passed the new law on June 16, 2009. On June 26, the Lithuanian President rejected the legislation, referring it back to Parliament for reconsideration. However, the bill was finally approved by an 87-6 vote, with 25 abstentions.

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