“Gay haters attacked the Swedish Minister with eggs”
By Cathy Kristofferson, July 27,2013
After months of court battles, Baltic Pride 2013’s March for Equality, today successfully proceeded along Gediminas Avenue in the center of Vilnius, Lithuania’s capital city. Escorted by 500 police, fire brigade and a helicopter overhead, an estimated 600 proud marchers were met by an array of egg and bottle throwing Neo-Nazi and religious fundamentalist protesters.
Amazing video linked below will give you an idea of the atmosphere.
Amnesty International Denmark tweeted “A lot of of angry protesters showed up to shout and throw bottles and eggs, but the Baltic Pride was still a big success.” By all accounts the police did a fine job of keeping order despite the dozens of protesters that were reported to have been arrested.
Baltic Pride posted to their Facebook wall “IT WENT ALL GOOD!!! THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!!”
Among those attending was a 30-strong group of representatives of sexual minorities from the other Baltic nations of Latvia and Estonia, about 50 representatives of Amnesty International from different countries of the European Union, a number of Lithuanian MPs, MEP from the Netherlands Sophia in ‘t Veld, an Austrian politician Ulrike Lunacek, and Harvey’s nephew Stuart Milk of the Milk Foundation.
The Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet reported:
“Minister for EU Affairs Birgitta Ohlsson had eggs thrown at during a gay pride parade in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius at noon on Saturday. She was hit several times, says Carl Lagerqvist, her press secretary.“
Amazing video of clips from the march and rally that followed:
.
Here NI of Belfast posted:
“News from Lithuania: Our development worker, Orlaith has reported that the Baltic Pride March went off peacefully today…hundreds of protestors lined the streets to shout slurs at marchers and brandish signs of hate but everyone was safe and it marks a huge leap towards equality for the Baltic region. Well done to all who fight for LGBTQ rights across the world!”
We agree! Congratulations to all involved! Here are a few pics from Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
Screen capture of Delfi’s live stream. Parade start.
@SophieintVeld Sophie in ‘t Veld
Harri Simolin @harrisimolin Counterprotestors shouting loudly “shame”. Good speeches. Helicopter above us. #balticpride
Jenny Zhang @jennybagel
“Let’s love there/ where we are” this hero brought my favorite poem to Baltic Pride #balticpride #vilnius #queerfeelings
Markus Kuokkanen @MarkusKuokkanen
Many anti-Pride protesters at #BalticPride wore masks of a famous #Lithuania’n anti-gay populist Petras Gražulis.
IGLYO
Team IGLYO after successful and safe Baltic Pride. Happy Pride Vilnius!
View right now from the stage at Baltic Pride – Hope winning over hate . The eggs that hit us were at least fresh – they could have thrown rotten one With the MEPs — at Vilnius Old Town.
Agnieszka Filipiak @AgFilipiak
Talking with @StuartMilk at the Baltic Pride march #Vilnius #Lithuania Greetings!
Gintare Eidimtaite @GEidimtaite
#BalticPride under way. Aggressive opposition but also some incredible support for those marching #LoveIsLove
Clicke here for large photo gallery at Delfi
Photo courtesy Delfi
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PoochParkWear customizes hoodies and t-shirts, the good, the naughty, the in between, whether proud or quirky let them be seen. We also offer biker jackets, croc or pleather collars, a variety of collar charms, and our special Zinja beaded collars made by a co-op of HIV-positive South African women, the Sisonke women who weave the beads onto the collars.
Reblogged this on JerBear's Queer News, Views & Memories and commented:
What a difference a headline’s spin makes. Articles about this in the Associated Press and Gay Star News emphasised the violence in headlines and content whereas Cathy here at O-blog-dee-o-blog-da rightly emphasized the overall success and bravery despite the eggs and bottles thrown. Cheers to the brave LGBTI/Queer celebrants of Lithuania and her Baltic neighbors!
“sexual minorities” is a very insulting term and completely ignores transGENDER people.
Let me assure you that the use of “sexual minorities” here on OBLOGDEE is never done in an insulting fashion.
The use of ‘sexual minorities’ in this particular story came directly from the reporting of who attended the March for Equality from the other Baltic countries so I used what I got from the source. Not an excuse as I could have changed it.
One term to describe all of our ‘community’ is difficult to come by. I am more prone myself to using ‘queer’ to mean all of us in that not-100%-cisgendered-heterosexual category because ‘LGBT’ or ‘LGBTQ’ or ‘LGBTI’ obviously leaves people out as it has grown to LGBTQQIAATSa2z which clearly means every letter added to the end represents someone previously excluded from the labeling attempt which is not very good when exclusion is what we are fighting against. But suggesting the use of ‘queer’ will likely get further Comments here, as it has in the past, because many are opposed to that as well.
Every definition of ‘sexual minority’ I have ever seen includes transgender.
Please accept my apology for any unintended slight or insult.
Cathy
It is a perfectly acceptable term internationally.
It is a term that is often used by other countries and is most often NOT considered insulting. It is used with clear definition. I prefer “sexuality minorities” That means just what it says. A group of people with a sexuality that is not in the majority!
there is nothing minority about our sexual function… it is “sexual”/social orientation that is the question. “sexual” should be private, orientation and who were are intimate with is unavoidably public
Alyson of BETTY here. What a difference between performing at SF Pride so many times in the happy atmosphere of glory and celebration, and the anxiety surrounding our impromptu performance in Vilnius this past Saturday. After the Baltic Pride march through the phalanx of observers – some hating, some clapping, more simply… staring, when we finally go to the park at the end, we were told it was totally surrounded by aggressive haters. Yes, Baltic Pride 2013 went off peacefully and was totally empowering. Yes, it was a huge step forward for equal rights in the Baltics at a time when the anti-equality backlash is gaining momentum in Eastern Europe. But yes it really was frightening – and we are Americans with all the protection that implies. For the hundreds of brave Lithuanians who dared to come out and march, it was an unqualified success, both personally and for society. It was an amazing triumph I am honored to have witnessed and I will never forget the look of defiant pride on those heroes faces.
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