Bulgaria: Pride March blocked by nationalist protesters

LGBTI rights defenders took to the streets of the Bulgarian capital Sophia for the seventh time on Saturday, calling on lawmakers and churches to respect their rights. Reports say around a hundred people marched, protected by hundreds more police officers. Marchers had hoped to march past the city’s Vasil Levski monument in the city center but were

Ukraine: Kyiv Pride cancelled after authorities refuse to police event

This year’s Pride March in Kyiv, Ukraine – which was due to take place on July 6 – was cancelled after authorities told the organizing committee they could not protect participants from homophobic violence. The Mayor of Kyiv, Vitali Klichko, claimed that this was not the time for “entertainment events” in Ukraine, following unrest in the

Ukraine: KyivPride 2014, June 30-July 6

From June 30 to July 6 the International LGBT Forum and Festival KyivPride2014 will take place in Ukraine. It is an annual social, political and cultural event, which is organized this year for the third time. “Today when Ukraine has faced external aggression, when they try to divide our society by incitement of hatred between

Austria: MEP Ulrike Lunacek attacked with acid at Vienna’s Rainbow Parade

Openly lesbian Greens MEP and co-president of the European Parliament’s Intergroup on LGBT Rights Ulrike Lunacek was attacked at Vienna’s Rainbow Parade on Friday, marring an event in which 150,000 marched for LGBTI equality. Police are still searching for the perpetrator who threw butyric acid on Lunacek. Never before has there been an attack at the

Baltic Pride 2014 in Tallinn, June 2 – 8

From June 2 to 8, the Baltic Pride 2014 took place in Tallinn and Tartu in the form of a week-long festival filled with a number of events. All the workshops, performances, discussions, reading groups, exhibitions and film screenings gravitated around one main theme, STAND UP, and the slogan for the whole festival was I’ll stand

First Cyprus Pride march to highlight the lack of LGBT rights

Cyprus is set to hold its first ever pride event on Saturday 31 May, sixteen years after a law banning homosexuality was repealed. Authorities in the island’s Turkish Cypriot north, a self-declared state recognised only by Ankara, repealed a similar law in February. Same-sex couples in Cyprus do not receive the same rights as heterosexual

Hong Kong gay pride draws over 5000 supporters

Celebrities and politicians joined thousands of parade-goers at the fifth annual LGBTI rights march. When Cyd Ho, a member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong, went up onto the platform to show her support for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community, the 2013 Hong Kong Pride Parade reached its climax with thousands

Serbia: Hundreds of LGBT activists gather to defy gay pride ban in Belgrade

Gay rights activists in Serbia held their first Pride march in three years on Saturday, despite officials banning the ceremony over threats of violence from right-wing extremists. Hundreds of activists gathered on the streets of Belgrade last night, following through with plans to defy the Government’s banning of the pride march that was expected to take