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Gay News: A law which would have banned Gay Prides in Lithuania has been defeated by just two votes.
This year's Baltic Pride met with violence
Lithuanian anti-gay law narrowly defeated
16 November 2010
If passed the law would have banned Gay Pride marches and would have imposed fines from 2,000 to 10,000 litas (approximately £500 – 2500) on anyone “publicly promoting homosexual relations”.
In a first reading on Friday 31 members of the Seimas, the Lithuanian Parliament, voted in favour of the draft law, and seven against, with the rest of 141-strong Parliament abstaining or not voting.
However, two more votes are needed to pass the law.
After the vote, Petras Grazulis, who tabled the draft legislation, told AFP: “Any evil cannot be propagated. Such events like gay parades do great harm to children.”
The bill will have a second reading in December.
Earlier this year Lithuania’s first gay pride march was met with homophobic violence in the streets of the capital, Vilnius.
