Uspaskich has been expelled from the Liberal Group in the European Parliament for homophobic comments

The vote in the Renew Europe group was in response to a video by Mr. Uspaskich in which politicians used the words “perverts” and “pedicures.”

Dacian Ciolos, the Romanian politician and president of Renew Europe, said the content of the video was completely unacceptable, hateful and clearly homophobic.

72 MEPs voted in favor of the removal of Uspaskich, six against and six abstentions.

Mr. Uspaskich sent a letter of apology to his group colleagues last week. He acknowledged that the words used were too rude, but assured that he did not seek to offend the LGBT community, and accused political opponents and the media of providing biased information.

Uspaskich posted the scandalous comments earlier this month in a live feed on Facebook.

“Today, in some European countries, it is even dangerous to say that you are a representative of the natural orientation. I don’t want my conversations, the program, to be commented on by pediatricians of all kinds, because it is not a program for them anyway. I mean pedicures, perverts, those to whom fate, life thus gave them, it is not their fault, that there is some kind of longing felt by a man dressed as a woman. Most of these people don’t advertise, but the ones who put the granite under their skirts and go out on the street scream, they are pedicures, perverts and those things really should not be tolerated, ”said V. Uspaskich during the broadcast.

Ieva Pakarklytė, the largest of the Freedom faction in the Seimas, says that Uspaskich’s homophobic speeches are an obvious example of hate speech.

„V. Uspaskich’s homophobic speeches are a clear example of incitement to hatred under the guise of freedom of expression. The humiliation of people for their private life is fundamentally in contradiction with liberal values, and this decision of the Renew Europe Group is appropriate and welcome. European liberals cannot go hand in hand with politicians who promote homophobic attitudes, ”says Ieva Pakarklytė, the leader of the Freedom Group at Seimas.

Tomas Vytautas Raskevičius, member of Freedom Faction and chairman of the Human Rights Committee, also welcomes this decision.

“I welcome the principled decision of the European Parliament to distance itself from the homophobic statements of a former Lithuanian colleague. The humiliation and stigmatization of individual groups in society is incompatible with the principles of liberal democracy and respect for human dignity I believe that this decision by my colleagues in the European Parliament will become an incentive to develop a politically respectful political culture in Lithuania as well, ”said Tomas Vytautas Raskevičius, member of the Freedom Group and chairman of the Human Rights Committee.