Vowing to defend family values in the predominantly Catholic nation, lawmakers overturned a presidential veto on the legislation, which bans publicly disseminating material deemed harmful to the mental health and “intellectual or moral development” of minors.

The measure lists 19 examples of “detrimental” information, including material that “agitates for homosexual, bisexual, and polygamous relations,” instructions on how to make explosives and graphic depictions of violence or death.

It also bars information that gives credence to paranormal phenomena, hypnosis or “promotes bad eating.”

While critics said the text violated the freedom of speech and international standards of human rights, others said the vague wording would make it difficult to enforce.

The text does not define “public information” in detail, though it makes references to TV programs, films, computer games and advertising as well as online and print media accessible by children.

“This is absurd. I cannot even imagine how they will implement this law,” said Dainius Radzevicius, chairman of the Lithuanian Journalists Union.

Lithuania’s former president rejected the bill before he left office last week, but lawmakers voted 87-6 on Tuesday to override his veto. Forty-eight lawmakers either abstained or were absent in the 141-member legislature.

It takes effect after the new president, Dalia Grybauskaite, signs it into law, which she is required to do within three days.

Supporters said the measure was necessary to defend traditional family values in the former Soviet republic of 3.4 million people, which joined the European Union and NATO in 2004.

“We have finally taken a step which will help Lithuania raise healthy and mentally sound generations unaffected by the rotten culture that is now overwhelming them,” said Petras Grazulis, a lawmaker who co-sponsored the bill.

Grazulis, of the right-wing populist Order and Justice Party, is also seeking a total ban of homosexuality in the Baltic country.

Intolerance toward sexual minorities remains strong in many former communist countries in Eastern Europe – not least in the Baltic region.

Lithuania has repeatedly banned gay pride parades. In neighboring Latvia, the annual gay pride parade draws twice as many protesters as supporters. In 2006, gay rights activists in Latvia’s capital, Riga, were pelted with feces, eggs and insults as police stood idly by.

Boris Dittrich, an advocacy director of the New York-based Human Rights Watch, urged gay and lesbians in Lithuania to challenge the so-called “Law on the Protection of Minors” in court.

“The idea behinds this law is quite homophobic,” he said. “It’s a violation of international human rights standards.”

The new bill amends an earlier censorship law that didn’t contain any references to homosexuals. It also steps up pressure on the state ethics panel tasked with reviewing questionable content to punish violators with fines, which can be challenged in court.

The text says the nature of the content must be balanced against its “scientific or artistic value” or whether there is a public interest in making it broadly available.

The bill, called the “Law on the Protection of Minors against the Detrimental Effect of Public Information,” was overwhelmingly passed by the Lithuanian parliament on June 16. Other information that would be banned by the law includes the portrayal of physical or psychological violence, the display of a dead or cruelly mutilated body, and information that arouses fear or horror, or encourages self-mutilation or suicide.

Lithuania, a member of the European Union, received criticism for the bill because it contradicts a joint statement the country signed at the UN General Assembly in December 2008. The join statement reaffirmed that human rights apply equally to every human being regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity.

President Adamkus’s veto can be reversed by the Lithuanian Parliament but only with an absolute majority.

“This is true: Lithuania is one of the most homophobic countries in the EU. This has to be viewed as a fact,” Vaitiekunas said. “The situation cannot be changed by any one party or minister.”

He then told Parliament that it likely would take a “change of generations” to develop a more tolerant attitude toward homosexuality.

The EU recently has been putting pressure on Lithuania to improve its human rights record.

Last year, about 200 people attending an international LGBT rights conference in Vilnius were overcome with a noxious gas when several smoke bombs were thrown into the club where the meeting was taking place.

Police refused to allow those inside the building to leave, saying they had not contained the perimeter, even though the fumes had filled the building.

No one was seriously hurt in the attack and in the past 12 months there have been no arrests.

The bombing came hours after the mayor of the Lithuanian capital refused to allow the group to hold a march and raise the rainbow flag, citing safety concerns over construction work going on along the planned parade route.

The Brussels-based International Lesbian and Gay Association, Europe, which planned the three day annual conference, accused Mayor Juozas Imbrasas of homophobia, after she refused to consider any alternate routes.

Earlier last year, Imbrasas cancelled a stop by a tolerance campaign sponsored by the European Union claiming it could spark violence.

The tolerance campaign – a bus carrying the slogan “For diversity, Against discrimination” – had been touring Europe.  It’s goal was to education people about the EU’s human rights laws.

Imbrasas again refused to allow the bus to stop in Vilnius this year.

Also last year, Imbrasas supported transit workers who refused to drive trolleys with ads promoting LGBT diversity.