Between injustice and legal change: the situation of LGBTQ+ people in Latvia and Lithuania

ENThe chapter focuses on the legal and social situation of LGBTQ+ in Latvia and Lithuania. It analyses the legal regulation of same-sex couples, same-sex partnership/marriage, adoption and family planning, and protection against discrimination in a wider social context. Although Latvia and Lithuania decriminalised homosexuality in 1992 and 1993 respectively, registered partnership or marriage is still not open for same-sex people. Lithuania failed to implement a sex reassignment law, thus persistently neglecting the rights of transgender persons. In 2010, the Law on the Protection of Minors against the Detrimental Effects of Public Information was introduced, effectively restricting information relating to LGBTQ+ because same-sex relationships are widely regarded as negative information directed against family values. In Latvia, despite some official initiatives from society calling for the legal recognition of same-sex couples, the parliament has still not approved any legal regulation in this regard. At the end of 2020, the Constitutional Court of Latvia ruled that the state should protect the family in the broader understanding, including families of the same sex. This judgement has divided Latvian society into two opposing factions. In January 2021, as a protest against this judgement, amendments to the Constitution of the Republic of Latvia were proposed in the Parliament, thus placing the topic of the concept of family on the legislative agenda. [From the publication]