ACDP PRAISES ANTI-GAY LITHUANIAN LAW

South Africa’s African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) has praised a recently passed Lithuanian law which limits children from accessing information about homosexuality.

In a statement issued by the party, the ACDP said that it “applauds the Parliament of Lithuania for its wisdom and courage in standing up against a Lithuanian presidential veto coerced by opposition from the European Parliament outside their mandate.”

It added: “The Lithuanians exerted their nation’s sovereign right to pass laws protecting families and children in the face of a threat of removal from the European Community.

“Minority, radical views are increasingly phrased to appear like commands and are used by sympathetic officials and activists to pressure governments to change laws and policies against the wishes of the majority.”

The law dubbed, “the Protection of Minors from the Detrimental Effects of Public Information,” has been slammed not only by the European Union but also by the country’s own president, Dalia Grybauskaite, who has vowed to work to amend the legislation.

The law effectively bans any positive information about homosexuality being communicated by schools, in public places or in media accessible by children.

Grybauskaite was inaugurated as president after the legislation was passed by Lithuania’s Parliament and followed a failed attempt by the previous president to veto the law.

In response to the ACDP statement, South African LGBT rights group, the South African Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (SA GLAAD) said:

“This media statement by the ACDP, in conjunction with its track record of previous press statements against the decriminalisation of homosexuality and marriage equality, reveals the ambition and malice with which it views the laws and Constitution of South Africa, which grant the pink community a measure of equality and human rights, despite its best efforts to oppose and undo this since its founding in 1994.”

SA GLAAD further commented that, “We cannot help but wonder what kind of laws this anti-human rights party would be passing in South Africa if it had not been so soundly defeated at the polls in April.”