On Monday, the Lithuanian Labour Party decided to quit the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE).
This comes following the expulsion of party leader MEP Viktor Uspaskich from the Renew Europe group at the European Parliament due to his homophobic comments.
"It was a fairly clear sign that we [the Labour Party] are not welcome together with the party leader," MP Ieva Kačinskaitė-Urbonienė, representing the Labour Party, told BNS, adding that "it's not the end".
She said the party may join another group at the European Parliament or rejoin the liberal alliance.
Uspaskich made his remarks that caused public outrage in a video that was streamed live on Facebook earlier this month.
“In some European countries, it's even dangerous to say today that you're of a natural [sexual] orientation. I don't want my conversations, [Facebook] shows to be commented by all kinds of fags, because this show isn't for them. I'm talking about fags, perverts. It's not their fault that they were given this life [...], that they feel like women wearing men's clothes. Most of them keep it to themselves. But those who stick their dick under a skirt and go into the street and shout are fags and perverts, and such things must not be tolerated,” he said.
In late January, he offered an apology, saying that his words were "perhaps too rude", but insisted that he did not mean to insult LGBT people.
Uspaskich accused his political opponents and the media of biased reporting.
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