This year, the organizers of the march are raising demands regarding the representation of LGBTQIA+ people in the Lithuanian education system, the legal recognition and protection of families, and inclusive healthcare services.
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According to them, the rights of LGBTQIA+ individuals have not yet been consistently regulated, schools still avoid discussing scientifically based sex education, and same-sex families cannot fully live family life.
In 2021, “Kaunas Pride” aimed to draw attention to these issues by saying “We are everywhere,” but municipal representatives tried to prohibit us from exercising our democratic right to assemble. The legal proceedings that followed overshadowed some of the demands. Therefore, this year we are marching again and firmly state that we have always been, are, and will always be part of Lithuania’s history and future,” the organizers say.
Among the demands is the implementation of the Constitutional Court’s April 17 ruling and ensuring the right of LGBTQIA+ people to family life, as well as creating equal opportunities to exercise rights related to marriage, partnership, and adoption.
The organizers also call for simplifying the possibilities for transgender people to change their name and gender marker, strengthening their protection against discrimination and hate crimes, and ensuring accessible and non-discriminatory healthcare services.
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“We demand the depathologization of transgender identity and the right to bodily autonomy, providing transgender people with dignified, accessible, and self-defined access to medical, cosmetic, and legal gender-affirming procedures,” the statement reads.
According to the organizers, the rights of LGBTQIA+ people are also connected to the rights of other marginalized groups, so the march aims to draw attention to manifestations of hatred and discrimination in society.
“Whether we talk about the rights of workers, migrants, or systematically killed civilians in the Palestinian territories, we all fight for life and the right to openly be ourselves,” they add.
Odeta Vaitkevičienė, a representative of the Kaunas County Police, told BNS that the police plan to deploy more forces than usual during the march, but officers currently have no information about possible provocations and hope the event will proceed smoothly.
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The “Kaunas Pride” march in Kaunas is being held for the second time. The first took place in 2021.
