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Lithuania Passes Bill to Censor Children from Homosexuality by Gizem Unsalan July 16, 2009 |
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Lithuanian parliament members approved a bill on Tuesday to keep certain information, including topics related to homosexuality, away from minors.
The bill, called “Law on the Protection of Minors,” bans information considered harmful to the “intellectual or moral development” of minors, including material that “agitates for homosexual, bisexual, and polygamous relations,” according to the Associated Press. The bill was originally vetoed by former Lithuanian president Valdas Adamkus, who left the office last week.
Parliament members voted 87-6 to override Adamkus’s veto. Unable to re-impose the veto, new president Dalia Grybauskaite must sign the bill into law within three days.
The head of the Lithuanian Gay League, Vladimir Simonko, said parliament had “demonstrated its will to institutionalize homophobia,” according to BBC News. The human rights group Amnesty International also condemned the new law, which they say could be used to prohibit legitimate discussion of homosexuality and impede the work of human rights defendants. “This law is a clear infringement of freedom of expression and non-discrimination rights and should be repealed immediately,” Amnesty International UK’s LGBT Campaigner Kim Manning told BBC News.
Right-wing parliament member Petras Grazulis, who co-sponsored the bill, is also seeking an outright ban of homosexuality in Lithuania, according to BBC News. “We have finally taken a step which will help Lithuania raise healthy and mentally sound generations unaffected by the rotten culture that is now overwhelming them,” Grazulis said.
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