1704989436
Support our work and share it.
Our children are taught in school to have sex and become gay. Minors will be relocated without parental permission, but Istanbul Convention regulators will remove children from their families. With such and similar lies, various fraudsters, including politicians, have regularly frightened the public in the Baltic countries in recent months – especially in Latvia, but also to a lesser extent in Lithuania and Estonia. We analyze who does it and how Subject: Baltica in the latest disinformation review.
Last May, the European Digital Media Observatory (EDMO) reported that LGBT+ issues are one of the most popular and persistent misinformation topics in the European Union (EU). Most narratives about the supposedly endangered traditional family are also relevant in the Baltic countries.
Who is spreading LGBT+ misinformation in the Baltics?
In Latvia, intimidation with so-called gender ideology and other nonsense related to the LGBT+ community increased in the second half of 2023 in connection with two legislative initiatives. Latvia was one of the last EU countries to adopt the partnership institute regulations and, after years of discussions, ratified the Istanbul Convention, which is intended to prevent violence against women. They became battlefields for the Saeima parties, which particularly defended “traditional values”. Latvia comes first, which mobilized supporters on social media around this issue for several months. The representatives of the United List and the National Union were also deceived (both entered the opposition shortly before the adoption of both laws due to increasing contradictions between the coalition parties). Representatives of these parties also feared that the partnership regulation adopted in Latvia in November would soon lead to the legalization of same-sex marriages and the adoption of children.
On the other hand, the Estonian Conservative People’s Party (EKRE) in Estonia has made false statements about the LGBT+ community and beyond For the Fatherland and Res Publica association Members, points out Delfi.ee Fact checker Kylie Malts. For example, former Estonian justice minister Lea Danilson-Jerga claimed in June that “gay propaganda” had turned a quarter of the country’s youth into homosexuals.
The post says: “They are big on gay propaganda, a quarter of young people are already LGBT+.” Source: Screenshot from X (formerly Twitter).
In Lithuania, some representatives of opposition parties have spoken out against measures that would make life easier for LGBT+ people, explains Aiste Medute from Lithuania Delphi. These were, for example, Mindaugas Puidokas and Daiņus Kepenis from the Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Association and Petrs Gražulis from the People’s and Justice Association. However, unlike in other Baltic states, deception does not play a major role in the repertoire of politicians in Lithuania. “Most claims about the LGBTQ+ community were insults, not misinformation,” explains Medute.
In Latvia, some misinformation also helped popularize delusions Super distributors: Rudolfs Brēmanis, Kaspars Pudniks and Aivis Vasilevskis. They invented both their own delusions and those that were already circulating in the information space of the United States or other countries.
“Schools brainwash children”
In Latvia, the scandal over sex education materials has fueled the long-standing debate over ratification of the Istanbul Convention. The institution responsible for the educational content had, as if by mistake, made it accessible on the Internet not only to educators, but to anyone interested. The Minister of Education suspended the head of the State Center for Educational Content, but that was not enough. Defenders of “traditional values” exaggerated the content of the material and the potential harm and launched a social media campaign seeking more and more “evidence” that those in power are endangering children and families through their decisions.
A children’s book on the subject of sex education became one of them Down there. Misinformers have misled that the book is a teaching material in school, Latvia comes first Board member Viktors Shcherbatihs popular Tick tock The video said it teaches young children how to have sex. In response to the party’s incitement, a video of the book being burned appeared online, and the translator received threats that she would be raped.
Photo: On LTV “What is happening in Latvia?” LPV boss Ainārs Shlesers came to the discussion about the establishment of partnership status with the book “Tur lejā”. Source: Screenshot from LSM.lv.
Similar lies were also spread in Estonia – about a book How to make babies. There, too, it was incorrectly stated that the book had to be used in education – this time in kindergartens. This statement was also shared by a Russian-controlled media representative who once lived in Riga Russia Segodnya Employees, on the platform telegram active Alexey Stefanov.
On the other hand, a fake document on “life skills” introduced last September spread in Lithuania. From the document one could understand that it would convey “the standards of LGBT ideology”. Although the Lithuanian Ministry of Education, Science and Sports quickly announced that the document was not real and did not reflect the content of the issue, the lie about it also made its way to Latvian social media.
In Latvia, misinformers are also spreading delusions about educational content in connection with the Istanbul Convention. The convention provides that member states may decide, if they deem it necessary, to develop educational materials on violence, gender equality and other related topics. Several disinformers, such as musician Kaspars Pudniks and publicist Vija Beinert, claimed that ratification would force schools to teach about gender reassignment and same-sex relationships. The root of the deception is the concept of “social gender” (The. – Gender), which is used in the text of the English version of the Convention.
“Children are allowed to decide for themselves about gender reassignment”
Sex reassignment surgery among minors is rare in Europe and the United States. However, this does not prevent fraudsters from frightening parents that their offspring could make decisions without their knowledge. For example, the aforementioned LPV board member Shcherbatihs said that the recently ratified Istanbul Convention allows this for children aged 14 and over.
It should be noted that similar lies were spread in Lithuania in 2020 when ratification of the Convention was discussed there, as was the case in Latvia last year. At that time, for example, the Lithuanian lawyer Daiva Guobiene wrongly linked this international agreement with gender reassignment of children.
“The LGBT+ community will take children away”
In the Baltic states, fraudsters threatened that parents who oppose so-called LGBT ideology would lose custody of their children. In Latvia, such consequences were attributed to the ratification of the Istanbul Convention. Namely its supervisory structure GREVIO Can remove children from families for no particular reason. In fact, it has no such right. Deception about the withdrawal of guardianship rights occurred primarily in Latvia, but also to a lesser extent in Lithuania.
The post states: “Social services in Germany took a child from a Muslim family because they do not support LGBT…” Source: Screenshot from Facebook.
Members of the Saeima Latvia comes first Spread the illusion that this is already happening in the state of California. There, parents who refuse to pay for gender reassignment surgery for their children lose custody.
This lie is in line with the narrative of the “morally corrupt” West and “gay Europe” propagated by the Russian authorities. For example, misunderstandings about the spread of LPV in California were also widespread in the Russian media. It also states that children in the West are being encouraged to change their gender without justification and that schools have introduced LGBT+ classes – these delusions were also published by Baltic disinformation last year.
Photo: The headline of the state-controlled Russian newspaper “Rossiyskaya Gazeta” reads: “California allows children to change their gender without parental consent.” Source: Screenshot from RG.ru.
How have the opinions of Baltic residents changed?
Delusions about LGBT+ issues are nothing new, but media literacy experts and human rights organizations point out that their magnitude has increased in recent years. As early as 2021, the EU Foreign Ministry warned of disinformation campaigns aimed at the LGBT+ community, which are also supported by non-EU countries, including Russia. But despite these efforts, acceptance among the residents of the Baltic states is becoming ever greater.
It is currently impossible to predict how the campaign developed in recent months, particularly in Latvia, will affect public opinion. An indicator for the future is likely to be the low participation in the collection of signatures initiated by the opposition parties to hold a referendum on the abolition of the partnership institute that has just been passed. During the month, 35,000, or 4.7% of the required number of voters, signed for it.
The Eurobarometer survey conducted in spring last year shows that support for sexual minorities in the Baltic states has increased slightly in recent years. 35-51% of respondents responded that same-sex relationships were not a bad thing; Slightly fewer supported same-sex marriage and agreed that the LGBT+ community should have equal rights. This is still significantly lower than in the EU as a whole (where, for example, 74% see nothing wrong with same-sex relationships). Positive tendencies can be observed in two out of three questions. An exception is the question about the rights of homosexual and bisexual people, which was answered “yes” 10-26% less frequently last year. However, it should be added that in 2019 the question did not mention examples (marriage, adoption, parental rights) and this may have influenced the way people answered and therefore made the answers not comparable to each other.
Likewise, residents of the Baltic states have become more inclusive. For example, in 2019, 25% of Latvian respondents answered that they would not feel uncomfortable if their child had a romantic partner of the same gender, but in 2023 this figure increased to 44%.
INDEPENDENT JOURNALISM NEEDS INDEPENDENT FUNDING
If you like Re:Baltica’s work, support us!
Account: LV38RIKO0001060112712
Donate now with Mobilly! To do this, search for our brand in the donation section of the app and follow the instructions below.
#lies #fuel #hatred #LGBT #community #Baltic #countries