Lithuania’s President rebukes musician Ten Walls for comparing gays to paedophiles
The President of Lithuania is not happy with Ten Walls, after the Lithuanian musician compared homosexuality to paedophilia.
The Lithuanian producer and musician posted an anti-gay rant to Facebook this week, referring to LGBT people as people of a “different breed”, likening them to paedophiles.
He also claimed that “the good 90s … these people of different breed where [sic] fixed,” and went on to compare homosexuality with paedophilia.
He said: “One of my first gigs in Ireland, on my way to [my] hotel I saw a church with a fence decorated with hundreds of baby shoes. Naturally I wondered why? Unfortunately a priest’s lie for many years was uncovered when children were massively raped. Unfortunately the people of other breed continue to do it and everyone knows it but does nothing.”
Following the comments, his country’s President Dalia Grybauskaitė has hit out at the singer – claiming that his comments exemplify issues with homophobia in Lithuania.
She said: “I believe the incident benefits the state in a way that, in this country, we are becoming more and more open in our discussions about how insular we are, our intolerance of people who are different, as well as homophobia.
“I believe discussions are a healthy thing, we need more of them, as the sooner Lithuania becomes more open and more tolerant, the better it will be for the country.”
Lithuania’s entry to the Eurovision Song Contest this year featured a number of same-sex kisses, in a sign that the conservative country is starting to become more tolerant.
