By About 10,000 people in Lithuania protested against the legal recognition of same-sex partnerships last Saturday, 15 May 2021, according to police.
Despite a ban because of the Corona situation, they gathered in the capital Vilnius for a so-called “The Big Family Defence March (Didysis šeimos gynimo maršas)“.
The president of the majority Catholic EU country, Nauseda, stressed that granting homosexuals more rights should not violate the constitution.
The constitution defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman. In June, the parliament is to deal with a bill on equal rights, for example in inheritance law or name changes.
According to media reports, the bill could pass with the help of the Liberals, who are part of the government, and the opposition Social Democrats.
Lithuanian president spoke ‘in the company’ of pro-Kremlin German politician
A German MEP who addressed an anti-LGBTQ+ rally in Lithuania is from “a circle of Putin’s friends”, MEP Rasa Juknevičienė said on Facebook on Sunday.
Bernhard Zimniok, an MEP from the right-wing populist party Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), addressed the rally on Saturday in a pre-recorded speech that was broadcasted after the address by Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda.
“I will remind [you] that the president of the Lithuanian Republic spoke yesterday in the company of this character,” Juknevičienė posted on Facebook on Sunday.
Among other issues, Zimniok spoke out against immigration “genderist propaganda” and the European Union.
According to Juknevičienė, Zimniok is part of a eurosceptic group in the European Parliament, which advocates for the lifting of EU’s sanctions on Russia.
In one of the five examples listed by Juknevičiene, Zimnio voted against an April 29 resolution on Russia, Alexei Navalny, Russian troop buildup near Ukraine and the attack by Russia’s secret services in the Czech Republic.
He has also abstained in resolutions on the violent crackdown against protesters in Belarus and Russia’s persecution of Lithuanian judges involved in the January 13 case.
“His party advocates for the lifting of Russia sanctions [and] AfD representatives at the European Parliament are part of the far-right eurosceptic political group,” Juknevičiene posted, adding that the group includes the party of France’s Marine Le Pen.
“Its representativesvisit occupied Crimea and Donbass,” according to Juknevičienė.
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