Lithuanian MEP kicks off over gay adoption exhibition at the EU Parliament

Šarūnas Birutis

Å arÅ«nas Birutis, a Lithuanian member of European Parliament, has expressed outrage over an exhibition mounted at the EU Parliament by ILGA-Europe in cooperation with the European Parliament’s LGBT Rights Intergroup and MEP Hélèn Goudin.

Launched on December 12 to mark International Human Rights Day and the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which was adopted by the General Assembly of the UN, the exhibition of 12 posters was mounted to draw attention to the legal and social problems LGBT families and their children experience in Europe,

The posters highlight the challenges and issues LGBT families and their children face because of the lack of legal recognition, as well as the positive developments at European level advancing the legal situation for LGBT families and their children.

On the same day, ILGA-Europe launched a report “The Rights of Children Raised in Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual or Transgender Families: A European Perspective”. This report documents the existing framework of legal protection of the rights of children in LGBT families at European level, analyses the many gaps in their protection, and makes recommendations for addressing these. The report will be used to raise awareness more generally around this issue at European level.

A detail from a 'vulgar' Ilga poster

Patricia Prendiville, Executive Director of ILGA-Europe, said:

Today when the world marks International Human Rights Day, we must remember that in reality there are many adults and their children across Europe who are still denied the legal recognition of their families. Their relationships, based on love and care are, still not considered valuable or equally respected. Most shockingly, in many European countries, children in LGBT families are not able to establish a legal link with their factual parents and face discrimination on the grounds of their birth status or the sexual orientation/gender identity of their parents.

But, representing “the most homophobic country in the EU”, Birutis brayed:

A modern pluralistic society can respect individual choice, and opportunities to live as one likes. However it cannot be acceptable to equate cohabitation of sexual minorities with normal families or legislise child adoption by such couples. As the posters were exhibited at the European Parliament, one can conclude that an aggressive lobbying campaign has begun, more aggressive compared to the one 4-5 years ago.

Birutis  added:

Let’s hope that the majority of parliamentarians and general public will be prevented from being bullied into changing their opinion in this vulgar manner.

The Lithuanian Euro parliamentarian agreed that:

Sexual minorities cannot be banned from expressing their convictions, but that has to be done in a civilized manner.

Birutis, who belongs to the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe [JL], pointed out that, in the past, unsuccessful attempts had been made at the EU Parliament to grant unconventional couples right to adopt.

News of Birutis’ objection to the exhibition was carried on this Lithuanian website. It was translated into English for us by Juris Lavrikovs.

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