TVRaskevičius, who burned three LGBTIQ books: The government does not have the trust of the ruling majority

“In protest against the decision of the Seimas, I am burning three books that are very dear to me personally, which contain information about LGBT persons,” the parliamentarian told reporters on Tuesday.

He spoke this way after the Seimas rejected the proposal to abolish the provisions of the law prohibiting minors from disseminating information that “disparages family values” and promotes the concept of the LGBTIQ family.

The politician burned the book “Call Me by Your Name”, “The Humpback Mountain” and “The History of the Nature of Homosexuality”.

According to him, according to the Juvenile Protection Act, these books should not be accessible to young people.

TVRaskevičius emphasized that this draft law had previously been approved by the Government, but more than twenty ruling representatives spoke against it.

“That’s why today I publicly ask the governing coalition a question: does the Government, the Prime Minister still have the support of this Seimas majority when it comes to issues of value and human rights?” It seems to me that today’s voting results show that it is not,” said a member of the Freedom faction.

In the amendments rejected by the Seimas, it was proposed to abandon the provision now included in the law, that information that has a negative impact on minors is such “which despises family values, promotes a different concept of marriage and family formation than that established in the Constitution and the Civil Code”.

The amendments were made after Lithuania’s lost litigation at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) regarding the suspension of the publication of the book “Amber heart”. It describes same-sex relationships, publications.

The case was filed in the Strasbourg court by the now deceased writer Neringa Macatė. The ECtHR found that by restricting the publication of the book, Lithuania violated the provisions of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms related to freedom of expression.

The book was published by the Lithuanian University of Education in 2013, but the distribution of the book was stopped after a few months.

The university based such a decision on the letter of the Journalists’ Ethics Inspector Service, in which N. Macatė’s book is named as causing harm to children under 14 years of age. At that time, the service explained its position with the valid legal regulation.

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