Lithuania’s LGBTQ+ community is hosting a pride march in Vilnius on July 11 to protest “against injustice both locally and globally”, the organisers said in a press release.
Demonstrators will gather at the Cathedral Square at noon and will march to the Lithuanian parliament.
“Political forces that are losing popularity have been trying to turn LGBTQ+ and other vulnerable communities into their targets,” according to the press release by Pride 2020, the organisation uniting members of the LGBTQ+ community for this year’s protest.
LGBTQ+ people are still considered “dangerous propaganda” that kids should be protected from. Same-gender couples and their children are still not recognised by the state.
Meanwhile, the legal situation of LGBTQ+ community has not changed in Lithuania, “as members of the community are demonised by politicians, their concerns are trivialised and silenced”, according to Pride 2020.
“Transgender people still have no medical framework and hardly any administrative framework that would allow them to legally change their gender without greater obstacles, and experience discrimination and transphobia in most spheres of their daily lives, including healthcare services and the workplace,” the organisers say.
“This is why we must show solidarity amongst ourselves and demand that our rights finally be recognised,” the statement read.
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