LITHUANIA
Male to Male relationships: Legal
Punishments for male to male relationships: No law
Female to Female Relationships: Legal
Age of consent: Equal for heterosexuals and homosexuals
Marriage and Substitutes for Marriage: No law
Lithuania has responded to recommendations made by various member states of the Human Rights Council at its Universal Periodic Review of Lithuania in October 2011, dismissing the concerns raised about lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights in Lithuania.
According to a statement issued by Lithuania’s Ministry of Justice and approved by the Government, recommendations on the protection of sexual minorities’ rights and elimination of law provisions which discriminate on grounds of sexual orientation or gender identity have already been implemented, as in Lithuania discrimination on various grounds is prohibited by Constitution and the list of grounds provided is perceived as open, and prohibition of discrimination based on sexual orientation is specified in the Law on Equal Treatment.
LGL disagrees with the position taken by the Lithuanian Government, drawing attention to the case L v Lithuania, concerning a transsexual’s right to gender reassignment, which Lithuania lost in the European Court of Human Rights in 2007. The ruling obligated Lithuania to pass a law regulating the procedure and conditions of gender reassignment, which Lithuania has subsequently ignored. Further, Lithuanian conservative parliamentarians led by the chairman of the Committee on Health Affairs last March registered a proposal to amend the Civil Code with a prohibition of gender reassignment sur gery. Disappointed with the response to the recommendations, LGL urges the Lithuanian Government to engage in dialogue with experts and NGOs regarding gender reassignment regulations.