by Agnė Mačiulytė

Tomas Vytautas Raskevičius (31), who joined the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania with the Freedom Party , is happy with his success, but he is in no hurry to lay a laurel wreath on his head. The man is convinced that in Lithuania there are many areas related to the LGBT community, which, according to him, need to be changed.

TV Raškevičius, who graduated in political science, has not hidden his sexual orientation for a long time, nor is he overwhelmed by the criticism of homophobic people. Many recognize him as a brave, eccentrically disguised person in public who actively fights for LGBT rights. "I am not offended by the negative comments, because I myself have chosen this, public way to talk about LGBT issues. I have to accept the price of it all,” he says.

- Even before the first round of the Seimas elections, no great success was predicted for the Freedom Party. Did you sincerely believe that you would become a member of the Seimas?

- We believed that we would enter the Seimas, otherwise we would not have worked so hard and sincerely. The result was a positive surprise, we did not expect such support. However, the election is not over yet. (Smiles) Probably, society itself is tired of listening to what it is - unprepared, extremely conservative. The results showed that the time had come for major changes and their time was now.

- It is clear that you are going to defend LGBT rights in the Seimas . What would be the specific changes you expect to make?

- In the field of protection of LGBT persons, I am determined to implement three legal changes, I intend to register bills in the first hundred days. First of all, we will take up the priority issue of the partnership institute. We want to regulate family relationships, not economic ones, for same-sex couples. There can be no concessions or discussions on this.

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