Hungary: In Europe, Pride is a key political barometer. Budapest’s was safe, at times even joyful.

When Pride marchers had filled Elizabeth Bridge, the people walking in the front released hundreds of multicolored balloons, and the thousands of participants let out a happy cheer. I realized it was the first such cheer I had heard since the march began two hours earlier. “You see, it's a hybrid,” said Katalin Orban, a media studies professor who marched with her partner, Zsofia Ban, a prominent Hungarian fiction writer. “It's not like Moscow or Kiev, but it's not like Vienna, either—it's not a celebration.”

Something odd has happened in Europe: The continent's political dividing line seems to have become defined by the way the Pride march proceeds there—if it proceeds at all. In Moscow, an attempt to stage Pride in May was punished with beatings and jailings. In Kiev, Ukraine, in June, the police failed to adequately protect marchers, some of whom were beaten. Later in June, police used water canons to disperse the Pride march in Istanbul, Turkey.

Hungarian pride organizers have worked to normalize the event by attracting corporations, straight allies, and gay celebrities. Unlike last year, marchers did not walk through a tunnel of police in riot gear. But it also meant that spectators were too far away to see anything. This march was a statement, not a spectacle. The gathering place, in front of the opera house, stank of excrement. Shit had apparently been strewn along the bottoms of the trees that line Andrassy Street. This was a milder form of the tactics of Moscow's self-proclaimed Orthodox activists, who consistently throw human waste at LGBTQ demonstrators. Read More

US: Op-ed: LGBT work, housing protections needed now, says NAACP leader

The fight for full equality has been a long and winding journey. It has taken us from the Stonewall Riots and the AIDS pandemic to this moment in time, this place, an America when LGBT Americans have the right to marry in every state in the union. I am proud to have stood with so many on the right side of history, aligned with those who believe that all Americans deserve the dignity of equal treatment.

But our journey is nowhere near over. Because for millions of Americans, you can finally wed the person whose love sustains you, but that marriage could cost you your job, your home, and your basic rights. Because transgender Americans must still battle everyday discrimination in places that most people access without blinking an eye, and no one should be humiliated at the grocery store or dentist. Because for so many, true and lasting equality is still so far away. 

Every American has the right to build their lives on the bedrock principles of hard work and determination, with the full knowledge that if they can get a fair chance, they can earn a living, provide for their families, and protect the ones they love. But for LGBT people living in 31 states, those rights could be denied because of who they are or whom they love. They are judged, not on their performance, but on their personhood.   Read More

India: op-ed Why are we afraid of gays?

When Manabi Bandopadhyay became India's first transgender principal of a Kolkata college, we praised it as a gender-sensitive revolution. However, same-sex marriage in India remains a criminal offence. The attitude of the mainstream society, including political parties towards the Queer Pride March organised by Queer Pride Keralam in Thiruvananthapuram is a reflection that we are a homophobic society. 

There is high level of prejudice against homosexuality in the state though we claim to be progressive. The role of so-called progressive movements should be blamed for this, says P Surendran, who has exhaustively studied the issue of the third gender and the hijada community in the country . "While we cannot expect Gandhians to support such social realities, the communists too have failed to address the rights of LGBT community because they are afraid of such micro narratives," he says. "When you analyse society in terms of class struggle, you cannot comprehend the essence of gender identity and your thinking will end up being monolithic," he explains. 

It is a reality that homosexuals and transgender are prevalent in rural areas but they are afraid of coming out of the closet. Even Malayali women who openly declare their sexual identity abroad are afraid of doing so in their own native place. If we fail to recognize homosexuality as a social reality, which is genetically determined, the society, including police, will keep on hunting homosexuals.  Read More 

Jamaica: Harassment of homosexuals triggers new security manual in schools

Concerns over the bullying of homosexuals in schools is among issues at the root of a security manual to be launched at the start of the new academic year. The disclosure was made by Minister of Education Ronald Thwaites, who, following his presentation in Parliament, said that the manual dubbed 'Security and Safety Guidelines' is expected to be included in the schools' curriculum and will be a platform to sensitise students on security issues.

"A number of civil society groups including members of the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender), fraternity, have raised with me, issues of bullying. It is of serious concern and the policy of Government and of the ministry (of education) is to protect the sexual integrity of everyone, so the fact that they raise the concern would be an important issue for us," the minister said.

"Bullying not only affects this society (LGBT), as we have heard reports of issues with regards to older students interfering with younger students, issues of gender also arise, all of which offer a clear position on offering zero tolerance for bullying of any sort. The manual is now being prepared and will be fleshed out."  Read More 

US: Senate votes down measure to ban LGBT discrimination in schools

Fifty-two senators voted for an amendment Tuesday to ban discrimination against LGBT students in public schools, but the measure to amend the Every Child Achieves Act failed because 60 votes were required for passage.

“I’m tremendously disappointed in the Senate,” Sen. Al Franken, who sponsored the amendment, said in a statement after the vote. “The inability to put in place meaningful protections for some of our most vulnerable children is an enormous disservice to LGBT students all across the country who face terrible bullying every day.”

In addition to banning LGBT discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity, Franken’s amendment would have required campus officials to intervene when an LGBT student is being bullied. It would also bar schools from retaliating if a student complains to officials. Sen. Patty Murray, from Washington, pointed out the amendment would give LGBT students similar protections to those already on the books for students based on their race, gender, religion, disability, and country of origin. Read More

Ireland: Gay teachers welcome greater employment protection

A Bill which amends employment equality legislation to protect gay teachers in schools was passed through Report Stage by the government. It allows for LGBT teachers to be open about their sexual orientation in their school communities knowing they have robust protection under the law.

With marriage equality now becoming law, gay teachers say this is a further step towards feeling protected and proud of who they are. The Irish National Teachers Organisation (INTO) has welcomed the law, saying there was a “chilling effect” for many teachers around the country who are afraid to come out in schools.

Chairperson of the INTO LGBT Teacher’s Group Anne Marie Lillis said: “LGBT teachers can be secure in the knowledge that speaking about our families and our relationships, in the same way as our colleagues and that being gay or lesbian will have no bearing on job security or on prospects for promotion.” Read More

Saudi Arabia: Authorities reportedly fine school more than $25,000 over “emblems of homosexuality”

A school in Saudi Arabia has been fined more than $25,000, with authorities claiming the rainbows on its building were “emblems of homosexuality,” according to a Twitter account associated with the agency that enforces the country’s religious law. The tweet, from the Saudi Society Channel, also showed that the Talee al-Noor International School has been repainted. The Saudi Society Channel is one of the Twitter accounts associated with the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, the agency that enforces Islamic law in the country.

Homosexuality and trans people are routinely punished by flogging in Saudi Arabia, and the country’s authorities are among the most aggressive in the region in targeting LGBT people online and on mobile hookup apps. In July of 2014, a 24-year-old man was sentenced to 450 lashes and three years in prison for soliciting sex with other men on Twitter, according to a US State Department human rights report, & 35 men alleged to be gay were arrested this April in a raid. Read More 

Croatia: messages LGBT youth on the walls as a driver of positive change

In order to familiarize the wider community with the inequalities in the society towards marginalized communities and to encourage an environment for positive change, the group Info Zone, led a program to explore marginalized youth. 

Dealing with the problems of the lack of adequate family support and / or support the environment, issues of prejudice, discrimination, labeling, obstacles to the exercise of their own desires, ambitions and dreams, difficulty in continuing education or employment the project included three focus groups: young LGBT people, young people without adequate parental care, and young people with disabilities.

Speaking in a focus group for the LGBT community in which he participated, activist Mirjana Lolić reveals some simple messages that have derived from it: Fear and shame are not the same, Silence is the biggest problem, should have equal rights, BUT .., pride is what is after all stripes ascend, lesbophobia, Advanced minorities contribute to the development of civilization. Read More

Germany: Green Youth Munich leader, involuntary hero of CSD-Parade

As board member of political youth group 'Grüne Jugend München,' Marcel Rohrlack, 18, speaks out for LGBT rights and marriage equality, but also minimum wage, housing, and environmental issues. After attending Munich's annual pride event--Christopher Street Parade--Rohrlack and a friend were attacked and beaten by a group a five men. Documenting his injuries on Facebook, Rohrlack urged an end to violence. Read More 

Kenya: 19 school students suspended for supporting LGBT rights

A group of Kenyan high school students from St. Mary’s Kibabi Boys High School in Bungoma County – were sent home, pending an investigation by the school into the allegations against them, after anti-gay students accused them of being gay. The teenagers were taking part in a group debate regarding gay rights – an issue no doubt heightened by the upcoming visit of US President Barack Obama.

After the school boys vocalised their own support for gay people, their opponents accused them of being homosexuals themselves, and they were subsequently asked to leave school. They will be allowed to report back to the school next week with their parents to hear the verdict against them. The school’s principal, Mathew Namunwa, has warned that if any of the students are discovered to have participated in homosexual acts, they would be given counselling.

Namanuwa confirmed that there had been a debate the previous week between the pro and anti-gay pupils, which led to divisions among the peers. He said those accused of being gay are suspected to have been practising “it” with the school’s youngest and most vulnerable students. Read More via Pink News 

Kenya: African LGBTIQ youth speak out

Young African LGBTIQ activists from Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Togo, and Uganda attending the Fifth Changing Faces Changing Spaces conference in Kenya gathered together to discuss issues affecting LGBTIQ youths in Africa. The participants shared our collective observations that the voices of young LGBTIQ Africans are quite often not heard even within LGBTIQ spaces.

There is the erroneous belief that young people lack the ability and capacity to organize due to lack of professional experience as well as misconception about their ability for self-determination around their sexual orientation, gender identity and expression. These among other factors have silenced the voices of young LGBTIQ Africans in the struggle for LGBTIQ rights in the continent.

We, young LGBTIQ Africans are a huge part of the movement and in so many instances lead organizations that are not necessarily youth focused but are at the forerun in the struggle for LGBTIQ rights in our regions and countries. We have proven to be a driving force of the movement in Africa; both as leaders and as beneficiaries and are changing the notion that young people are being “recruited” into homosexuality in Africa. Read More 

Russia: Video shows what it’s like for two men to walk around Moscow holding hands

A video of two men experiencing verbal and physical abuse as they hold hands on the streets of Moscow is going viral, with more than 1 million views since it was posted to YouTube Sunday. Passersby shout expletives and anti-LGBT slurs at the men as they walk around the city. In one shot, the pair are pushed by an aggressive man. No one comes to help them.

Filmed in the style of this viral video documenting one woman’s experience of street harassment while walking through New York, the footage has clearly been edited but captures numerous insults. The two men in the video say they are not gay but staged a “social experiment” to spark discussion of LGBT rights in Russia.

“We thought that it’s strange, that in USA if two guys have a walk holding hands, it would be not a big deal. So we wanted to see the same situation in Russia.” The men, who post footage of their “pranks” and “social experiments” under the name ChebuRussiaTV online, said they were surprised by the aggressive public reactions they received while filming. Read More