The Baltic Closet: If Asked, Don't Tell.(Brief Article)

Byline: Steven Paulikas

Who rules the world? So read a headline in Respublika, a leading Lithuanian daily newspaper. The answer: gays, along with Jews, of course.

Respublika's unabashed bigotry reflects an ugly fact of life in the new Europe. Lithuania formally joined the European Union in May. But in contrast to its Western neighbors, where homosexual culture has become a fixture of the social landscape, life for gays and lesbians in the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania remains secretive and underground. Surveys report that all three nations rank toward the bottom among developed nations in their attitudes. A 2003 poll, in fact, found that the average Lithuanian would be happier living next to a convicted criminal than to a gay person.

Homophobia is entrenched in practically every major social institution in the Baltic states, gay activists say, from the government to the Church to the media. When Aigars Rubezis and Oskars Krumins were married in Latvia last ...