Seimas Speaker Grauziniene: Lithuania "not ready" for same-sex partnerships

Seimas Speaker Loreta Grauziniene believes Lithuanian society is "not ready" for same-sex partnerships.

Speaking to Ziniu Radijas on July 22, 2015, she said: "Our society is not ready for such an action."

According to Grauziniene, such decisions could be made after a new and more tolerant generation grows.

"I think the elder generation of Lithuanian, who don’t understand these things, are worth respect, and I think that we should not irritate our society," she continued. 

Her comments came in response to the European Court of Human Rights' Tuesday ruling that Italy violated the European Convention on Human Rights by not granting any legal recognition to same-sex couples.

Grauziniene believes court rulings "should not be forcefully applied in states which are not ready for them."

A group of Lithuanian Social Democratic and Liberal MPs are suggesting legalizing same-sex partnerships but this initiative is unlikely to receive parliamentary approval.