Lithuanian MEP Leonidas Donskis, a member of the Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, said his Dutch colleague Sophia in't Veld and Swedish colleague Cecilia Wikstrom will take part in the parade through Gedimino Avenue.
Austrian MEP Ulrike Lunacek from the Greens/European Free Alliance will be among speakers at the conference "Towards a European Roadmap for LGBT equality", hosted by the Tolerance Center in Vilnius on Friday.
Donskis himself said he would attend the conference but would not take part in the pride parade as, he said, he was not "a mass event man."
"The parade is an expression of civil rights, but I think that the conference is equally important, and the fact that, let's say, the Swedish and Norwegian ambassadors are very actively taking part in this shows that the Nordic neighbors are very much interested in the event," Donskis told BNS.
Dutch MEP Veld took part in the 2010 Baltic Pride march in Vilnius. During the presentation of priorities of the Lithuanian EU presidency in the European Parliament in Strasbourg in early July, she invited Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaitė to also march in the upcoming parade.
The president said in response that she did not take part in any parades.
"Several ombudsmen, a representative of the Flemish government from Brussels will take part. There's a growing number of ambassadors who expressed their wish to attend the parade," Vladimir Simonko, leader of the Lithuanian Gay League, told BNS. "From Lithuania, if we talk about politicians, as far as I know, Aušrinė Marija Pavilionienė will take part. There's silence from other politicians." Simonko said.
On Wednesday, Vilnius Municipality issued a permission for the LGBT pride parade through the central street of the Lithuanian capital, Gedimino Avenue. The first Baltic Pride parade in Lithuania took place on Upės Street in 2010.
