In Lithuania, they still fight for the traditional family values
People take part in the protest campaign "The Great Family Defence March" protesting against laws that threaten the institution of a traditional family at Vingis Park in Vilnius. Photo AFP, Petras Malukas
Eastern Europe
Lithuania is an exception in the Baltics. It has not agreed to the controversial Istanbul Convention. Also, Lithuania has no ruling for same-sex partnerships. But how long will this take? And do Christians enough to convince society of the classical model? Dr. Violeta Vasiliauskienė doubts it.
The Istanbul Convention is a treaty from the Council of Europe on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence. On of the problems with that convention is that it works with gender as a social concept rather than a biological phenomenon. In other words, ‘Istanbul’ can be the door through which the gender ideology slips in, says Dr. Vasiliauskienė.
Some weeks ago, the Lithuanian Parliament, the Seimas, rejected a proposal for a partnership law that would give same-sex couples a better position. After the vote, some MPs are said to have broken down, some did not control their strong emotions, and others were happy.
A small win, yes, but not the end of the story, says Dr. Violeta Vasiliauskienė. She is a lawyer from Lithuania and the head of the National Association of Families and Parents. Vasiliauskienė wonders if Christian leaders are doing enough to influence the public opinion and talks about how the media portrays families and marriage in Lithuania.
You say the vote from March is a small victory for your country, but nothing is certain yet?
Dr. Violeta Vasiliauskienė: “Of course, it is very pleasant that the majority of Seimas has rejected the Istanbul Convention and Partnership law.
These votes are also related to elections in the autumn. We don't know if the liberal “Freedom Party” will try to sneak these issues in somehow.
The vote in March was a victory, but it would be best if the president recalled the decree to ratify Istanbul Convention that was signed by the previous president. The other solution is if the resolution went into a vote and for it to be rejected, but there is quite a risk of it being ratified.”
How would you describe the debate in Lithuanian society and in the liberal media?
“The media are biased towards this modern line of thinking. Most media outlets are so-called modern, and they do not reflect traditional views on the family.
They try to create the impression that people who oppose the modernisation of sexuality laws are only a minority. The Free Society Institute of Lithuania carried out two or three public opinion polls on those questions. We have looked at questions of sexuality education and the relationships of same-sex couples. Usually, about 60 to 70 per cent of the respondents are in favour of the natural family. Therefore, we conclude that society supports this natural view.”
The position of Lithuanian society
The public opinion and market research centre "Vilmorus" studied the public opinion in Lithuania on the partnership law by interviewing people. Two identical studies were conducted in June 2022 and February 2023 in 24 cities of Lithuania. Participants were asked whether they supported the proposal.
The results showed that most of the Lithuanian public does not support it or does not support it at all (72 per cent, compared to 68.2 per cent in June 2022), while the minority supports it – 18 per cent (20.1 per cent in June 2022). Interesting, that the growing trend of significant disapproval of the Civil Union Law is particularly pronounced among young people under 29 years of age.
How do conservatives and Christians stand their ground in Lithuania?
“Firstly, we try to cooperate closely with each other regarding different questions. We hold meetings to stay together. “The Free Society Institute” organises a big conference once a year on the topics of freedom of religion, freedom of thought, and other aspects.
We cover this question in pro-life conferences and make publications and videos to disseminate in the media. We represent our positions on TV and radio shows where we are invited. We're not yet cancelled because they still need someone to oppose this modern view. So, it's good to be able to express our opinion.”
Do church leaders have influence?
"Yes, I think they have influence. For example, there was the Šiluva Declaration in which the main things about the family were stated. It did not really express anything new, but it was very relevant at that moment.”
To what extent are family and marriage natural values for everyone?
“They are for everyone. It was very nice for me to discover how beneficial Christian social teaching is to society. We have people in our circles who are not necessarily Christian, but they are on the same page with the idea of the natural family.
We cooperate with them as we cooperate with Catholics and other Christians.
Studies show that stable biological families of married men and women are the best for children. There are quite a few studies carried out on this question. It indicates that Christianity contributes to the good of the whole society by promoting a family based on lifelong commitment.”
The vote on the partnership proposal
What happened in Lithuania on March 14?
The Lithuanian Constitutional Court published its decision on the compliance of the Istanbul Convention with the Constitution of the country. However, this does not oblige Lithuania to ratify the Convention.
The Lithuanian Parliament rejected a renewed review of the Istanbul Convention with a majority of 20 votes.
The Parliament removed the partnership proposal from its agenda
Why don’t liberals agree, than?
“This might be because of the new communism. It is like a new ideology, which is formed in international circles.
They try to create an atmosphere here, where no one can say anything against it. On the spiritual level, I would say, it is an effort to deconstruct the person to disconnect him or her from the roots of his identity. This might be useful for businesses.
Gender reassignment may be also useful financially because there is a lot of money involved in the medicines people use for changing their gender or suffer from infertility afterwards.”
If parliament had voted in favour of same-sex partnership, what would have been the main threats?
“The first danger is normalisation of same-sex sexual relationships and elevating them to the status of legal partnership and even marriage. Young people could start to believe that marriage between a man and a woman is equal to a relationship between same-sex partners.
Secondly, freedom of expression could be threatened. If the partnership law would be passed, you would be forced into accepting this legal status as a normal, almost as a moral norm.
It is known that homosexual relationships are not so stable. They often lead to increased health and psychological risks. And then there are child-related issues that will be seen in the next generations, to name a few issues that threaten society.”
Are there any laws about family that need to be established in your Constitution?
“Our Constitution states that marriage is between a man and a woman. We should include the provision that family is based on a relationship between a man and a woman, or blood relationship. Now there are speculations that, okay – marriage is between a man and a woman, but family should be understood more broadly.
We should follow the example of Hungary. There, the Constitution states that a mother is a woman and a father is a man.
I think it's much more beneficial to strengthen the relationship between men and women and within natural families. Adding homosexual couples to these issues will create more problems instead of solving them.”
You represent an organisation. What are your activities?
“Active people, together with Christian organisations created the organisation almost 20 years ago to serve as a guardian of family values. Together with our colleagues, we always try to be diligent about these questions. It's mostly advocacy work, but we also realise that it is important to create relations with each other.”
How do you think conservatives and Christians should be more active?
“Sometimes, we view politics as a dirty thing. But we have come to a time where we must at least know what's happening. We must write to our parliamentarians on certain questions, meet with them, check what they are voting on, and read about different questions.”
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