Liza does Paris Pride
Singer and gay icon Liza Minnelli danced on a float in Paris' gay pride parade June 27.
Minnelli is the daughter of gay icon Judy Garland, whose death five days before the Stonewall Riots 40 years ago is thought to have contributed to the foul mood of the gays who decided to fight back against the police raid of the Stonewall Inn.
"Freedom," Minnelli shouted from the float. About 700,000 people took part in the festivities.
"We knew that she ( Minnelli ) had a concert this evening in Paris but when her agent told us that she could come, we thought it was a joke," Pride spokesman Philippe Castel told Agence France-Presse.
Berlin also held Pride on June 27. About 550,000 people turned out, reports said.
Jerusalem gay pride
actually goes well
About 2,000 people marched in Jerusalem's gay pride parade June 25 without incident, but for one tossed egg.
Previous years' marches have been met with violent protests, stabbings and the arrest of a man carrying a bomb.
Police protection was reduced this year, to a mere 1,600 officers.
Gays attacked at
Slovenian Pride event
A cafe in Ljubljana, Slovenia, that was holding a Pride week cultural event was damaged June 25 by rock-throwing, hate-spewing anti-gays.
Eight men carrying stones and torches attacked Cafe Open and shouted that gay people should be killed.
They also set upon gay activist Mitja Blazic outside the cafe, injuring his head and burning him. Activists said Blazic was "severely beaten up" and required hospital attention.
Lithuanian prez
vetoes 'no
promo homo' bill
Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus on June 26 vetoed a bill that banned from schools and public places information that agitates for homosexual, bisexual or polygamous relations.
The vote for the bill in the Seimas ( parliament ) had been 67-3 with 67 MPs not voting. Seventy-one votes would be needed to override Adamkus' veto.
The proposed "Law on the Protection of Minors Against the Detrimental Effect of Public Information" has been denounced by Amnesty International, the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association, foreign governments and various arms of the pan-European bureaucracies.
Should it become law, the measure likely would end up before the European Court of Human Rights, where it probably would be found to violate the European Convention on Human Rights.
—Assistance: Bill Kelley