A bill that would have allowed civil unions for same-sex couples in Lithuania failed to clear its first parliamentary hurdle on Tuesday.
The bill, dubbed the Partnership Law, needed 65 votes to move forward. In a narrow defeat, 63 MPs voted in favour, 58 against and seven abstained. I am disappointed with yesterday’s decision. Nevertheless, [the] good news is that we have received the support of 63 MPs and we lacked only two votes to pass the Partnership Law at the first hearing, Tomas Raskevičius, an openly gay MP who sponsored the bill, told Euronews.
Raskevičius, a member of the liberal Freedom Party, vowed to introduce the bill again in the autumn but said he would likely be making changes in a bid to gain more support for the legislation.
Lithuanian artist uses homophobic messages to raise money for LGBT causes
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Lithuanian artist uses homophobic messages to raise money for LGBT causes
reuters.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from reuters.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Much of Europe has been at the forefront of LGBTI rights, but it seems some countries didn’t quite get the memo. And with an active and growing backlash against LGBTI communities in countries like Hungary and Poland, their neighbours are left pondering which way to turn. Lithuania is one such country – at a crossroad of improving LGBTI rights or rolling them back.
Tomas Raskevicius is the first openly gay Parliamentarian elected in Lithuania. His party – the Freedom Party – placed LGBTI rights prominently in their election campaigning…and it worked. Now Tomas is working to make good on their promises in Parliament, particularly with LGBTI relationship rights.