Vilnius  - Lithuania's President Dalia Grybauskaite and Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius looked for ways Monday to limit damage to Lithuania's reputation a week after the national parliament voted in favour of controversial legislation seen as discriminatory by gay rights groups.

Grybauskaite told a meeting of European Union ambassadors at the Swedish embassy in Vilnius that she would establish a presidential working group to come up with amendments to the Law on the Protection of Minors Against the Detrimental Effect of Public Information.

"The law should be corrected as soon as possible," she said, in response to criticism that the law was damaging Lithuania's international reputation.

On July 14 the Lithuanian parliament or Seimas backed laws that prevent the dissemination of "detrimental information" among children. The list of 19 areas deemed off-limits to minors include depictions of gratuitous violence, the paranormal, torture and material advocating "homosexual, bisexual, and polygamous relations."

The law has been backed by conservative clergy in mainly Catholic Lithuania and members of parliament broke into cheers when they approved the law by 87 votes to 6.

Grybauskaite's predecessor, Valdas Adamkus, vetoed the legislation but the Lithuanian parliament lost no time in overturning his decision.

The vote took place two days after Grybauskaite became Lithuania's first female president and has overshadowed her first week in office and attracted widespread international condemnation from civil rights groups.

Though she does not have the right to veto the law for a second time, she has said changing it is a "critical" issue as it "allows for various interpretations."

Earlier on Monday Prime Minister Kubilius suggested a compromise could be reached in which the legislation was extended to prohibit coverage of all forms of sexual intercourse. Such amendments could be made in the autumn before the law comes into force in 2010, he said.(dpa)