The film director Romas Zabarauskas addressed the Nausaítas in a public letter: he asked to change his father’s opinion

“I address this letter to President Gitan Nausėdas and his family: his wife Diana Nausėdienė and his daughters Gedailė and Ugnė Nausėdaites.

With Ugne Nausėdaitė, it turns out that we study at the same Jonas Basanavičius school in Vilnius. In addition, I graduated from the eighth Vincennes Saint-Denis University in Paris with a degree in film studies, and the president’s daughter interned in the international relations department of that university for one academic year. So I hope that the president’s family will read me, appreciate me and do not accuse me of being ignorant, “wrote R. Zabarauskas on Facebook.

The director wrote that the essence of the letter was simple. Above all, he wants to attract the president’s daughters.

“Could you take the initiative in your family and persuade your father to stop inciting homophobia in Lithuania?” Wrote R. Zabarauskas.

Sorry

The director noted that Dainius Žalimas, the former president of the Constitutional Court, had strictly evaluated the president’s homophobic comments that the Constitution does not recognize same-sex couples.

“I see it as incompetence, lack of professionalism and a statement that has nothing to do with legal arguments. It is simply politicization, I emphasize, the declaration of a common politician, because he acts like a common politician. It can be compared with Petras Gražulis “, – R. Zabarauskas quoted D. Žalimas.

According to him, indirect support of the Family March, cooperation with the Homophobic Institute of Free Society, the public promises to do everything possible not to implement the requirements of Kaunas Pride: all these activities of the president contribute significantly to homophobia. in Lithuania, they block much needed progress and destroy the lives of our citizens.

“Ugne Nausėdaite, you did an internship in Paris; Gedaile Nausėdaitė, you work in Berlin, can you tell your parents if there really is a moral decline in the West? Or maybe the fact that France and Germany legalized marriage equality didn’t destroy the world?

President Gitan Nausėda, it is more difficult for me to address you. Not because you made fun of the Constitution, but because you made fun of my family.

You have made it your mission to artificially compare the concept of family with the marriage of a man and a woman, regardless of not only the Constitution, but also the reality of many Lithuanian citizens, ”wrote R. Zabarauskas.

He spoke about the reality of LGBT families.

According to the director, single mothers or daughters, who have to raise their children alone or take care of their parents, would be the most offended in this situation.

“I don’t even want to think about how hurt these women feel when they hear the president’s message: they are not family. Because there is no man around ”, said R. Zabarauskas.

However, he was open to his letter mainly about LGBT + families.

“While you promised to ‘do everything’ so that the Kaunas Pride requirements were not met, my mother marched with me down Laisv Alley.”

My grandparents also considered marching, but I asked them not to – I wasn’t sure if it would be safe. Unfortunately, due to his rhetoric, my family may not feel completely safe.
My dad will no longer be able to leave because he died of a heart attack five years ago.

I loved Daddy’s sense of humor. He liked to repeat: “Life is hard, fortunately, short.” It is a pity that the father did not wait for the days when LGBT + citizens, including his son, are respected in Lithuania, ”wrote R. Zabarauskas.

He regretted that the homosexual writer Neringa Dangvydė, who had overcome a serious illness a year ago, had not achieved equality for Lithuanian citizens. He continues his fight against the censorship of his children’s book.

“It is a shame that the homosexual teenager, photographer Šarūnas Mačinskas, did not achieve equality for Lithuanian citizens, and homophobia in society contributed to his suicide in 2014.

How much longer will we wait until things “seem to get better” over time? How many more families will have to mourn at the graves of their sons, daughters or parents before society can mature to receive its citizens?

I have been living with my boyfriend Cornelius for six years. We have not joined the divorce of famous people, but for some reason we are the ones who have to feel every day that we are destroying the moral of society. Let it be. Little by little we are building our lives together: our families. Only often do you think: will it be possible to establish this family in Lithuania or will it be necessary to shave your daughters to go to Paris and Berlin? ”Wrote R. Zabarauskas.

Single-sex couples are already raising children

The director wrote that same-sex couples in Lithuania not only form a family, but also raise children.

“Same-sex couples in Lithuania not only form a family, but also raise children. Thanks to Julija and Gintarė Šimkiai’s family raising their son for their story. Thanks to Seimas member Tomas Vytautas Raskevičius, who is raising a son with two wives, for his own. There are, there have been and there will be such families ”, wrote R. Zabarauskas.

He noted that the Harvey Milk Foundation will collect the LGBTQ Leader Award at a ceremony on October 9 in Miami.

“The foundation was founded in 2009 by Anne Kronenberg, political campaign manager for civil rights leader Harvey Milk, and her nephew Stuart Milk, who won the Presidential Medal of Freedom directly from Barack Obama earlier that year. Once Stuart Milk shakes my hand.

I sincerely think, and what can I tell the Americans about the values ​​of Lithuania, about the direction of our state? Unfortunately, I don’t know.

But I know that respect for my family is more important than any reward for me. Respect for all Lithuanian families, without dividing society into blessed and damned.
Therefore, I invite the Nausėdai family to sit down for an important conversation. So that his family does not become a symbol that despises thousands of Lithuanian families, ”wrote R. Zabarauskas.

At the same time, he asked the president to ask our country’s politicians to modify the association law.

“Accept it as one that recognizes LGBT + families more strongly than the spring version. This will correspond to the spirit of our Constitution and the diversity of Lithuania,” wrote R. Zabarauskas.