Social Practice of the Restoration of Equal Opportunities in Lithuania: Personal Experience of Discrimination

Abstract

The article deals with such empirical measures of the quality of democracy as the attitude of the Lithuanian population towards the implementation of the principle of equal opportunities, their preparedness to fight discrimination, and the social experience of the population in the restoration of violated rights. The social practice of restoring violated rights to equal opportunities and non-discrimination is examined in the context of microsociology, that is, at the level of individual cases. Discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation has been chosen for the analysis of individual experience and the examination of social practices for the restoration of violated rights, because, given the high prevalence of discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and the very low number of people willing to defend their rights, it can be argued that this ground of discrimination plays a crucial role in identifying factors that encourage and/or limit people’s willingness to protect their rights. The paper presents a summary of the qualitative interviews conducted with those who have been discriminated on the basis of their sexual orientation and provides insights from experts with experience in dealing with such cases.