Second EU Nation Moves To Ban Gay Marriage

http://www.365gay.com/Newscon05/12/122605lithuania.htm

damn--there goes my vacation plans for next year

Lithuania could become the second member of the European Union to ban same-sex marriage.

Irena Degutiene, a member of the conservative Homeland Union Party announced Monday she will begin collecting signatures in January to force the issue to a vote.

Lithuanian law already defines marriage as as union between a man and woman but Degutiene said that isn't enough. She said that Latvia did the right thing last week when it amended its constitution to bar gay marriage.

Degutiene's move has raised concerns by liberal members of Parliament who say it would only alienate the country from the rest of Europe.

...that they, in addition to their willingness to host CIA black prisons, are not quite ready to join the commonwealth of european nations.

as should Poland(dismemberment perhaps again?), and Latvia. Expel from EU, and let them continue to obey Rome.No products to boycott, except Polish jokes.

eom

because this sounds much like what O'Reilly and his likes would say about France, you know? Yes, I'm Polish, and yes, we've just voted a nationalist socialist party and president into power, but you know what? We've had a leftist, ex-communist president for the last 10 years and a left-wing government for the last four, and it was these guys who put us in Iraq and let CIA run a prison in our country. They did nothing for what would be considered progressive causes, not a thing. So I guess we're fucked, and I didn't vote for either side this time (I always end up voting for losers), but get off your high horse, sir, before I remind you of the last three rounds of voting in the US :)


.marek

The Baltics will come around in time...

it doesn't look like Estonia is going to be San Francisco any time soon but it doesn't seem as bad as it's neighbors

. . . many Americans I meet expect that Europe (including "liberal" places like France) is a bastion of gay-affirming tolerance and acceptance.

It's not.

I've seen homophobia in France, Germany, Spain, Italy and the UK which would curl your hair. Europe's tolerant in the big cities -- just like in the USA -- and not too tolerant in the country. It just happens to be a bit more urban than America.

Not too long ago, there was a horrendous hate crime in France where they splashed gas on an openly gay man and set him alight -- he burned to death. And the governments of the UK, France, Germany, Italy and others have all gone on the record opposing gays in the military (until the ECJ forced them to change that policy) and have all arrested religious and political people who have held gay marriages. In Britain under the CP laws, a priest who conducts a ceremony as part of your civil partnership has committed a criminal offence and can be fined 5,000 pounds and sent to prison.

The idea that Europe is a progressive bastion simply isn't true. It's a bit ahead of the USA when things are averaged out, but only because it's more urban.

(edited to fix typo)

Even Amsterdam is ridiculously homophobic. Much of it is imported Surinamese homophobia. The Surinamese are very racist too.

I had to endure daily taunts from the Surinamese immigrants when I was in Amsterdam. Some of them even dared to follow me for a while in a car to keep throwing insults at me.

Of course, since this is not white racism/homophobia, no guidebooks will ever mention this, and Amsterdam continues to be described as the ultimate place of tolerance. I know it's not, as long as the Surinamese thugs are out and about.

Honestly I'd rather vacation in London, Paris, or San Fran than in Amsterdam any day.

And as I look at my own Los Angeles's immigrant communities, I see homophobia and racism at dangerous levels. I am afraid that Los Angeles will turn into another Amsterdam.

I remember working somewhere once where I would discuss New York with one of the cleaning ladies, who was - coincidentally - part-Puero Rican, part-Native American, part-Italian (IIRC), who'd lived here all her life. She was very friendly (she wanted me, LOL).

I wasn't totally out to her, but she probably could piece it together. Anyway, I used to tell her about some of my hostile/racist experiences with people from immigrant communities, such as Carribean communities, South Asian communities, and she used to nod and give me this, "Oh, you poor thing - so young and dumb!" and she'd concur, saying that when approaching some of these people, it's important to bear in mind the locales from which they come. And I must say that there is a lot of truth to that notion.

But it's semi-unPC to generalize about people from those communities - and it really isn't fair, but I do wish I had known then what I know now.

Thanks.