This year’s march, marching under the slogan “We were, we are, we will be,” organizers publicly raised new demands, expressed dissatisfaction with the “Lithuanian Pride” event held in the capital, and voiced criticism of Israel.
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On Sunday, open LGBT+ community member R. Zabarauskas shared his insights bluntly – according to him, the decisions of recent event organizers simply harm the goals pursued by the community.
“Unfortunately, both ‘LT Pride’ and ‘Kaunas Pride’ deserved criticism this year. I considered whether to express it, but I think the point has been reached where the organizers of both events harm the LGBT+ community and our pursuit of equality.
I no longer want to be silent. I will not repeat all the things already publicly discussed, but I will state my insights, trying to be honest with myself. ‘LT Pride’ is organized by LGL, co-organizing ‘Baltic Pride.’ The organization has been led by the same leader, Vladimiras Simonko, for several decades, which is inherently bad. Only Lukashenko and the former head of the Contemporary Art Center have led for so long, but he has already changed… The communication of this leader and the entire organization is also bad.
Let’s be “poor but righteous,” well, the LGL representative does not shine with charisma, and this is not a trivial need to convince society to accept its citizens. Many criticize these marches for their commercial image, with corporations’ banners “covering” clear demands. Maybe such a “mainstream” pride is needed, but only if it is at least somewhat effective. Today the question arises how successful it is and how much it is simply inert because it is “main.” Meanwhile, Kaunas Pride succeeded brilliantly for the first time, but this year it stumbled on political contradictions.
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It was loudly announced that “political attributes are not allowed,” but let’s see who participated in the press conference of the September 11 march: Member of Parliament and Chairman of the Parliamentary Human Rights Committee Laurynas Šedvydis, Senior Advisor of the Equal Opportunities Ombudsman’s Office of the Republic of Lithuania Mažvydas Karalius, and representative of the Kaunas Pride organizing team and NGO Diversity Development Group researcher Ivan Trunov. So why even have attributes if Kaunas Pride is simply officially presented by a social democrat? Although social democrats are responsible for our discrimination today? It is hard to imagine a greater absurdity.
It is also funny that the march, which presents itself as extremely progressive, was introduced by three white cis men. Is the effort to avoid an “all male panel” already a buried strategy, not cared about by equal opportunities controllers? Of course, thanks are due to these men, as it is obvious that other organizers simply hide. Is even one of them, except Ivan Trunov, known to the public? I also cannot understand this – maybe I am old-fashioned, but it seems to me that such events need inspiring leaders who encourage LGBT+ people to be open and clearly communicate to the wider public. Now we reach the maximum paradox – they are so radical and expect radicalism from others, but at the same time are afraid to speak publicly.
However, yes, what shocked the most was the official organizers’ invitation to give priority to symbols, posters, flags, among other things, “supporting countries that oppose genocide and authoritarian regimes (Palestine, Sudan, Congo, Ukraine, Belarus, Congo, etc.).” I think next time it would be necessary to go further and clearly state that the Lithuanian LGBT+ community deserves equality only if and when it solves the world’s military conflicts. Or to think about what other divisive and in-depth topics can be thrown to the marginalized LGBT+ community, thus further strengthening hatred towards these topics and us. The effectiveness is maximal if the goal is to absolutely trigger everyone around.
I am angry at both event organizers and tired of the unwritten rule not to criticize each other publicly. The limit has been reached where harm is simply done to LGBT+ Lithuanians, so criticism must still be heard and conclusions drawn. Not always doing something is better than doing nothing, so it would be healthy to rethink goals, strategies, and thirty-year tenures,” R. Zabarauskas wrote on Facebook.
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