Lithuania will see its first Pride events in late May.

The Lithuanian Gay League said a major highlight will be the May 25 display in Vilnius’ Savivaldybes Square of a 30-meter rainbow flag – “the longest and biggest rainbow flag in Lithuania.”

The group also plans to place ads on trolleys and buses in Vilnius and Kaunas, and will offer seminars, panel discussions, cultural programs and a dance party.

Activists also plan to distribute gay-related information to the public.

Warsaw violated European law when it banned the 2005 Pride parade, the European Court of Human Rights ruled unanimously May 3.

The man who was mayor then, Lech Kaczynski, is now Poland’s president.

The Euro court said the city breached the European Convention on Human Rights’ guarantee of freedom of association and assembly, its prohibition on discrimination and its guarantee of a right to an effective remedy.

The city was sued by the Pride organizers, the Foundation for Equality.

In prohibiting the march, Kaczynski said he opposed “propagating gay orientation.” The city further claimed that the Foundation for Equality failed to submit a proper “traffic organization plan” and that the parade could lead to violence by homophobes.

Gays marched anyway, about 2,500 of them. Around 300 anti-gay protesters hurled eggs and shouted slurs at the marchers. Ten people were arrested and three were injured, including a policeman.

In a press summary of its ruling, the Euro court said it “attached particular importance to pluralism, tolerance and broadmindedness” and that “the harmonious interaction of people and groups with varied identities was essential for achieving social cohesion.”

“The positive obligation of a State to secure genuine and effective respect for freedom of association and assembly was of particular importance to those with unpopular views or belonging to minorities, because they were more vulnerable to victimisation,” the summary said.

The European branch of the International Lesbian and Gay Association commented: “There is a significant case-law already established by the Court in regards to freedom of assembly and now we know that the same principles are equally applicable to LGBT citizens. We hope that this decision … will put a final stop to the outrageous violations of the right to peaceful demonstration by LGBT people which we witnessed during the last few years in some European cities.”

Foreigners to join Riga, Warsaw Prides

Activists from several nations will travel to Pride parades in Riga, Latvia and Warsaw, Poland, this year to support the local celebrations, which have seen aggression and hostility from residents and government officials in previous years.

Amnesty International said it will bring up to 100 members from 11 countries to Riga’s parade June 3 “as a demonstration of solidarity with Latvian LGBT people.”

There also will be a “big delegation” from Sweden, said Jonas Hansson of the Swedish gay group RFSL, the National Federation for Sexual Equality.

Hansson said the 65-person delegation will include Members of the European Parliament Hélène Goudin and Maria Carlshamre, Swedish MPs Maria Kornevik Jakobsson, Camilla Lindberg, Börje Vestlund, Marianne Berg, LiseLotte Olsson and Helena Leander, and members of RFSL, LGBT Liberals, LGBT Social Democrats, the Feminist Initiative, LGBT Amnesty, the Gay Police Association, LGBT Students, the Swedish Armed Forces, Stockholm Pride and the gay cultural group Tupilak.

Swedish and Euro MPs also will march May 19 in Warsaw, as will Sweden’s minister for European Union affairs, Cecilia Malmström, who also will deliver an address to a Pride conference.

During both Riga and Warsaw Prides, the local Swedish Embassy will host a reception for members of GLBT organizations and local and visiting VIPs.

Although RFSL (Riksförbundet för Sexuellt Likaberättigande) translates as National Federation for Sexual Equality, the group calls itself the Swedish Federation for Gay, Bisexual, Lesbian and Transgender Rights in English press releases.

One of Peru’s most-popular gay bars has been shut down by Lima city officials following complaints of noise and immorality.

The bar Downtown, in the trendy Miraflores district, had incurred the wrath of the Peruvian Consumers and Users Association, which said the club routinely “compromised … public order.”

Gay activists called the closure discriminatory, but Mayor Manuel Masías noted that two straight clubs were closed at the same time, according to LivingInPeru.com.

Police officers watched and offered encouragement as five attackers beat a transvestite activist April 20 in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, according to a May 4 alert from Amnesty International USA.

At the time of the attack, Josef Fabio Estrada, who is a leader of the Rainbow Association Transvestite Group, and two other transgender prostitutes were working in the gay Comayagüela district of the city.

“They were stopped and searched by police,” Amnesty said. “Almost immediately, Estrada was set upon and beaten by five men, while a police patrol car sat parked nearby. The officers reportedly watched, laughed and offered encouragement to the attackers, shouting, ‘Kill the faggot, beat him!’ The police allegedly prevented two other sex workers from intervening. Estrada reportedly used a broken bottle found on the ground to defend himself. At this point the police finally intervened. They arrested and handcuffed Estrada, but let his attackers go free.”

Amnesty says Estrada was seriously injured and has received no medical attention in custody. He is charged with attempted murder and robbery, and is being held in the state penitentiary’s “cell of death” with prisoners suffering from tuberculosis, AIDS and mental illness, the organization said.

“Tragically, these grave threats and human rights abuses are all too common for the LGBT community in Honduras,” said Amnesty USA’s Ariel Herrera.

Assistance: Bill Kelley