Thousands march
in Tel Aviv
Thousands of people marched in Tel Aviv's 10th gay pride parade June 6.
The march, funded by a $75,000 grant from the city, also was a celebration of the new gay community center in Gan Meir park.
A small group of counterdemonstrators carried signs that said: 'Animals! You have nothing to be proud of—take your medication,' local media reported.
Thousands march
in Warsaw
Several thousand people marched in Warsaw's fourth gay pride parade June 7 with the theme 'Live, Love, Be.'
Counterprotesters from All-Polish Youth and the National Radical Camp yelled insults at the marchers but there were no physical altercations.
A recent poll found that more than two-thirds of Poles wish gays wouldn't broadcast their sexuality.
In 2007, pride organizers won a European Court of Human Rights case against former Mayor Lech Kaczynski, who is now Poland's president, over his attempted ban of the 2005 parade.
The court said the city breached European Convention on Human Rights provisions on discrimination, freedom of association and assembly, and access to an effective remedy.
Lebanese LBTQ
women form
new organization
Lesbian, bisexual, transgender and queer women in Lebanon have formed a new organization called MEEM.
'The group was created on the idea that women should be encouraged to empower themselves and each other through mutual support,' organizers said in a statement.
'Our goal is to create a safe space in Lebanon where LBTQs can meet, talk, discuss issues, share experiences and work on improving their lives and themselves.'
Budapest police chief
bans, unbans Pride
Budapest Police Chief Gábor Tóth banned the city's gay pride parade on June 11, then unbanned it on June 13. The parade takes place July 5.
Tóth originally said the parade would cause too much disruption of traffic.
That led to a denunciation from the executive director of the European Region of the International Lesbian and Gay Association, Patricia Prendiville, who said: 'We consider his decision as a sign of giving in to the threats of ultranationalists. The traffic hindrance explanation and an earlier suggestion to the LGBT activists to organize a stationary event in an area remote from the city center are just excuses for the unwillingness of the Budapest police chief to take his responsibilities seriously to ensure order.'
In changing his mind, Tóth said freedom of assembly and opinion should take priority over traffic delays.
'We hope the police have understood that it is their job to protect the march from attacks, and not to try to avoid the attacks by banning the march,' commented Gábor Kuszing of Hungary's Association of People Challenging Patriarchy. 'We hope that they have learned from last year's serious attacks and will appear in adequate numbers to protect us.'
Last year, hundreds of skinheads, neo-Nazis and others threw eggs, bottles, smoke bombs, Molotov cocktails and plastic bags of sand at the 2,000 marchers. They also pelted police with beer bottles and physically attacked several marchers. One truck in the parade caught fire when a Molotov cocktail landed on it.
The counterdemonstrators shouted, 'Faggots into the Danube, followed by the Jews,' 'Soap factory' and 'Filthy faggots.'
Dozens more of the pride attendees were attacked in the vicinity of the post-parade party at the open-air, riverside Buddha Beach nightclub, the parade's endpoint.
Parade organizers said police failed to protect pride celebrants from anti-gay mobs, did not patrol the area of the post-parade party and did not respond to emergency calls.
Same-sex
marriage bill
to be introduced
in Tasmania
Tasmanian Greens MP Nick McKim will introduce a bill to legalize same-sex marriage in the state Parliament July 1.
If it passes, Tasmania will become the first Australian state to open marriage to gay couples.
Marriage has been considered a federal rather than a state matter in Australia, and a federal law explicitly bans same-sex marriage. But McKim said new legal research has revealed that states are not barred from legalizing same-sex marriage on their own.
Should Tasmania do so, the federal government could reverse it only via a High Court challenge.
Tasmania already has a law that grants many of the rights and obligations of marriage to registered same-sex couples.
But a spokesman for the Tasmanian Gay and Lesbian Rights Group, Rodney Croome, said that doesn't constitute true equality.
'It's painful for many same-sex couples to see their counterparts in places like California taking solemn legal vows of lifelong commitment while knowing they cannot do the same in their own country,' Croome said.
—Assistance: Bill Kelley
