Minor protection law is outrageous: Pavilioniene (2)

Human rights campaigner, academic and recently crowned woman of the year Marija Ausrine Pavilioniene said in an interview with Alfa.lt that the new law on the protection of minors is outrageous.

The law is supposed to protect children from potentially dangerous information, but it aroused international anger when it included sections about banning homosexuality from discussion with children.

"A minor is underage until he or she is eighteen, and yet, he or she has no right to know anything about a human body, its sexuality? Even more ridiculously, fear, hypnosis, paranormal phenomena are forbidden in media by this law, if they are theatricalised. But this should be counted as art, or are we forbidding it too?” Pavilioniene said in an Alfa.lt video conference.

She underlined that the last version of the law says any such kind of information outlined within it cannot be ‘promoted’. This means, that only mentioning, for instance, transsexuality in a lecture or a newspaper is not a crime unless it is continually escalated.

"However, I am against such prohibitions, but for education and nurturing: all teenagers have to know that the society is made up of both of good and of bad elements. Sexual education is currently non-existent in Lithuania, the church is afraid that it would turn children into amoral humans,” said Pavilioniene.

She said teenagers have to be taught about growing up and sexual differences, since being poorly informed, or finding out incorrect information on the street could lead to psychological traumas or even suicide.

"Sexuality is a fragment of the human personality. The person is versatile only if he or she understands his sexual shell,” the human rights campaigner said.

She explained that Lithuanian intolerance for homosexuals stems from religious fundamentalism, old-time customs, and national traditions.

"Some are stoned by those things and cannot understand that sexual minorities were always among us, both in ancient Lithuanian times, and now,” Pavilioniene stated.

"Who gives the right for those ‘normal’ heterosexual people to humiliate the different? There are always different people surrounding us — the disabled, elderly, sick. Why do we have to be so intolerant?” she said.

The protection of minors law came into effect after a year of sending it back and fourth through Lithuanian lawmaking institutions, and drew immense international attention from human rights organisations and EU institutions for its clear hints to homophobia.