Rainbow Bus Busted by Homophobes
Overt homophobia has reared its unsexy head once again in Lithuania's capital. After years of closeted meetings and hush-hush efforts, Vilnius' gay rights organisations are finally stepping into the public eye as part of a ramping up for the International Lesbian and Gay Association's (ILGA) annual conference to be held in October in Vilnius. One such effort (along with late May's 'Rainbow Days') was the Lithuanian Gay League's spending 5000 euros on advertisements which would grace the sides of Vilnius trolleybuses and encourage sexual tolerance. In traditional Lithuanian fashion, trolleybus drivers refused to drive the buses and the ads were removed. Apparently the ad slogans, "A gay person can serve in the police," "A lesbian can work at school" and "Homosexual employees can be frank" were found to be extremely offensive by the trolleybus drivers, who essentially went on strike to have them removed. Similar ads were due to be placed on more buses next week and whether they will be remains uncertain. To view the offending trolleys, click here.