If the president vetoes the Civil Union bill, it would cause an international scandal, says Aušrinė Armonaitė, leader of the liberal Freedom Party that is behind the legislation aimed at giving recognition to same-sex partnerships.
The bill is currently making its way through the Lithuanian parliament, Seimas, while President Gitanas Nausėda has been ambivalent about whether he will sign it into law if it passes.
“I think that if the law on partnership were passed in the Seimas and the president did not sign it, we would have an international scandal. Of course, we want to pass it in the Seimas first and we are waiting for the president's signature,” Armonaitė, who is also the economy minister, told the radio Žinių Radijas on Thursday.
She said she missed a stronger position from President Nausėda on “defending European values” when it comes to recognising childless, unmarried, LGBTQ+ couples.
“Personally, I find this very sad, because presidents in Lithuania have enormous authority, they have a lot of support, a lot of power. If the president were to stand on the side of human rights with his support in domestic politics, not only in foreign policy, Lithuania would certainly be able to make decisions on human dignity more easily,” said Armonaitė.
The Civil Union bill is one vote short of being passed in the parliament. Recognising same-sex partnerships has been a central item on the Freedom Party’s platform, but has not received unambiguous support from the main coalition partner, the conservative Homeland Union (TS-LKD).
Meanwhile, President Nausėda has not yet taken a position on whether he would support such a law or veto it. When commenting on the protection LGBTQ+ rights this week, he said his focus was on protecting the rights of families with children and the elderly.
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Conservative MPs take the view that civil unions would be too close to marriage, which is expressly defined in the constitution as only between man and woman. They have proposed an alternative piece of legislation on “close relationship” that draws a distinction between “family” and unmarried or same-sex couples.
According to Armonaitė, this alternative bill, tabled by TS-LKD politician Paulius Saudargas, is disingenuous.
“I doubt whether it is sincere. The law on close relationship is a manifestation of latent homophobia,” she said. “It is not the way Lithuania should take when it comes to human dignity.”
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