A new poll of Lithuanians claims that a shockingly low 4% of the Baltic country’s citizens are in favor of same-sex civil unions.
The statistic was released as part of a recent survey of more than a thousand Lithuanians by market research group RAIT. If it’s true that gays make up about 3%-5% of the general world population, then not a single straight Lithuanian is supporting his LGBT countrymen. The same poll says that a whopping 70% of Lithuanians would like to see civil unions recognized—but only for heterosexuals.
As for same-sex marriage in Lithuania, forget it: Many believe that the country’s constitution already forbids it, while conservative politicians are attempting to go the way of neighboring Latvia and explicitly amend the constitution to outlaw gay nuptials.
Photo via Lithuanian State Department of Tourism
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Kemal Süt
We have to be careful when we make comparisons between civil unions and marriage. Lithuanian society simply isn’t the same as American society, where marriage is taken really seriously and sexuality is effectively controlled by a bunch of outdated social codes. Lithuania is a post-Soviet state, so several decades under socialist rule have already rendered the country largely secular, and this is demonstrated by the fact that 70% of polled Lithuanians support civil unions (for heterosexuals) – i.e. marriage isn’t taken nearly as seriously as it is in the US and at the very least heterosexuals have much more sexual freedom, including women, especially given the country’s sex ratio – women constitute the majority of the Lithuanian population by a large margin.
When it comes to LGBT rights, from what I gather the problem isn’t a bunch of Bible-bashers bigging themselves up and controlling the country, trying to “save” and “protect” marriage; the problem is simply ignorance. I imagine that people there simply don’t understand homosexuality and regard it as a Western import and an abomination. This seems to be a running theme in a lot of Eastern European countries when it comes to LGBT rights – just look at how politicians in Russia and Serbia have reacted to pride parades as well as LGBT rights in general.
Just a little context.
sunshine.by
Dan, I got this story from so many places – but have not seen the actual question that was asked.
You know, like when people are asked if they would “allow homosexuals serve openly in the military” vs “allow gays to serve openly in the military” produces entirely different results.
Besides, if the results are from the online poll at delfi.lv which is a very homophobic site by itself, I would be surprised any would vote in favour.
So unless I see the actual question and know who run the poll, would I pay that any attention
Jim
Umm…Your second link is citing an American poll. Admittedly, this is a nitpick.
Dan Allen
@sunshine.by: The poll was apparently conducted by RAIT on behalf of the Baltic News Service… here’s a report on it from a Klaipeda site in Lithuania: http://klaipeda.diena.lt/naujienos/lietuva/apklausa-geju-partnerystes-iteisinimui-pritaria-4-proc-gyventoju-398171
But here either, unfortunately they don’t spell out the actual question asked of respondents.
bruce
Lithuania is a bit of a hole. The people are fundamentalist Catholics as far as I know.
Elis
Sadly there might be some truth to it – just look at how Latvian gays reacted in the last pride – most were afraid to take part in it and yet again it was a pride where mostly foreigners marched and most latvians participating were christians who protested against the pride. Even on TV some gays voiced their opinion that we shouldn’t be so much in everyones faces and that we shouldn’t need pride and civil unions. Most gay people who care about their happiness and well-being have just left the region due to the free movement and many more tolerant countries in EU.
Tyler St Petersburg
Lithuania has a large population of Orthodox Jews who hate gay people which probably explains a lot of the ignorance and intolerance.
Tom in Lazybrook
@Tyler St Petersburg: Actually, the Russian Orthodox Christians and Russian Protestants (Watchmen on the Walls, etc.) appear to be more of a problem.
Fodolodo
@Tyler St Petersburg: Jews of any sort are a tiny minority in Lithuania. The vast majority of Lithuanian Jews were murdered in the Holocaust. Most of the rest emigrated.
Orthodox Jews are not a substantial threat to gay rights in any place but Israel, because that’s the only place they actually have substantial political power.