Switzerland votes for law against homophobia

Yahoo – AFP, Dario THUBURN, February 9, 2020

Off-colour jokes are still OK (AFP Photo/Fabrice COFFRINI)

Geneva (AFP) - Switzerland on Sunday voted strongly in favour of a new law against homophobia in a referendum in the face of strong opposition from the populist rightwing Swiss People's Party (SVP).

Final results showed 63 percent voted in favour of widening existing laws against discrimination on ethnic or religious grounds to include sexual orientation.

"This is a historic day," Mathias Reynard, a lawmaker from the Social Democratic Party of Switzerland who initiated the reform, told Swiss channel RTS 1.

"It gives a signal which is magnificent for everyone and for anyone who has been a victim of discrimination," he said.

With results in from all of Switzerland's cantons, the figures showed that the highest approval rate was in Geneva with 76 percent, while the rural cantons of Appenzell Innerrhoden, Schwyz and Uri voted against.

The change was passed by the Swiss parliament in 2018 but critics, who believe it will end up censoring free speech, forced a referendum on the issue.

'Christian values'

Eric Bertinat, an opposition SVP local lawmaker in Geneva, told AFP before the vote that he believed the law was "part of an LGBT plan to slowly move towards same-sex marriage and medically assisted reproduction" for gay couples.

Hans Moser, head of the small Federal Democratic Union of Switzerland (EDU) party, told the ATS news agency: "We will continue to represent Christian values".

All of Switzerland's major parties except the SVP, the biggest political force in parliament, support the law.

Switzerland is one of the last countries in western Europe without specific laws against homophobia.

Rights campaigner Jean-Pierre Sigrist, founder of an association of gay teachers, said before the referendum that the new law might have stopped him getting beaten up outside a bar in Geneva four decades ago.

"And maybe I would not have been laughed at when I went to the police," the 71-year-old told AFP, adding that he hoped the reform would help to counter a resurgence of intolerance against gay people.

Sigrist said he supported freedom of expression, "but not the freedom to say anything at all".

'No to Special Rights!'

Under the new law, homophobic comments made in a family setting or among friends would not be criminalised.

But publicly denigrating or discriminating against someone for being gay or inciting hatred against that person in text, speech, images or gestures, would be banned.

The government has said it will still be possible to have opinionated debates on issues such as same-sex marriage, and the new law does not ban jokes -- however off-colour.

"Incitement to hatred needs to reach a certain level of intensity in order to be considered criminal in Switzerland," Alexandre Curchod, a media lawyer, told AFP.

But he admitted that there could be exceptions "if it can be shown that, under the cover of artistic production or joking, someone is in fact engaging in incitement".

Gay rights campaigners were divided over the legislation.

A group called "No to Special Rights!" is opposed, arguing that the gay community does not need special protection.

EU changes title for migration commissioner after outcry

Yahoo – AFP, Marc BURLEIGH, November 13, 2019

EU Commission president-elect Ursula von der Leyen had dug in over the original title
'Protecting our European Way of Life' before finally ceding (AFP Photo/Tobias SCHWARZ)

Brussels (AFP) - The incoming European Commission chief has changed the title of her migration commissioner from "Protecting our European Way of Life" following criticism it had far-right connotations, an EU official said Wednesday.

Ursula von der Leyen agreed to modify the title to "Promoting the European Way of Life" for the commissioner, her spokesman told AFP. Her commission plans to take charge from next month.

The original name given to the portfolio had brewed up a storm, especially among left-wing MEPs who noted a similarity to rhetoric employed by anti-immigration politicians.

Outgoing Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker said in September he believed the title would end up being changed, adding: "I don't like the idea that the European way of life is opposed to migration."

But his successor von der Leyen dug in for a long time, arguing that the title was grounded in the language of tolerance enshrined in the EU treaty.

Greece's Margaritis Schinas, who is set to take on the role, has avoided using the title though he has defended von der Leyen's position.

Delayed changeover

Von der Leyen's hopes of a smooth transition have taken a blow after MEPs blocked three picks for her team, deeming them unsuitable to become commissioners.

That has pushed back the date she hoped her Commission would take over, from November 1 to December 1 at the earliest.

Brexit turmoil and elections in Britain, still an EU member until at least the end of January, have compounded the commission conundrum, with London dodging her demands for the UK to also nominate a commissioner.

Von der Leyen still needs MEPs to confirm her replacement picks for commissioners, especially France's Thierry Breton, a multi-millionaire former minister who barely scraped through the parliament's legal affairs grilling.

The leftist Socialists and Democrats grouping in the European Parliament, which was among the most vocal against the "Protecting our European Way of Life" title, hailed the belated change.

Its leader, Iratxe Garcia, portrayed the modification as von der Leyen bending to pressure from her group.

"We all agree that the European way of life is an achievement we must preserve, but it doesn't have to be defended, rather promoted," Garcia said in a statement.

She added that von der Leyen had also agreed to change other job titles, with the jobs portfolio becoming "jobs and social rights" and the word fisheries being added to the title carried by the commissioner for environment and oceans.

A source in the left-wing bloc of MEPs told AFP the changes "take a bit of pressure off" the hearings for the commissioner candidates.

A spokesman for von der Leyen's commission, Eric Mamer, told reporters at a briefing that he was not yet fully informed on the change of titles for the migration portfolio, but he said it "puts a nuance that is probably a little more positive" than the original one.

Russian court blocks major LGBT online groups

Yahoo – AFP, October 3, 2019

A Russian court has ruled that two popular LGBT groups be blocked for "anti-family
values;" pictured are several Gay right activists on World Day Against Homophobia
and Transophobia in Saint Petersburg on May 17, 2019 (AFP Photo/Olga MALTSEVA)

Moscow (AFP) - A Russian court has ruled that two popular LGBT networking groups be blocked for disseminating "anti-family values", including a major group that has nearly 200,000 members.

The court in Saint Petersburg on Wednesday announced the decision against the groups on VK, a Russian platform similar to Facebook.

"An inspection showed they contain information available to the public, including children, which negates family values, propagates non-traditional sexual relations and promotes disrespectful attitudes towards parents," the court statement said.

Russia in 2013 introduced a law against "gay propaganda", which officially bans the "promotion of non-traditional lifestyles to minors" but in effect outlaws LGBT activism.

One of the groups mentioned in the court decision is called the Russian LGBT Community, which has more than 187,000 members.

The other group, LGBT Russia, is overseen by the NGO Russian LGBT Network, which told AFP the decision was a complete surprise.

"The court spends about five minutes blocking LGBT internet resources and the decisions have identical wording," said the organisation's spokeswoman, Svetlana Zakharova.

"We don't publish anything on our pages that needs to be marked 'adults only'," Zakharova said. "We talk about cases of discrimination and human rights violations and help anybody who needs it, including teenagers," she said.

Zakharova said the NGO would appeal the ruling.

Homophobia is widespread in Russia where reports of rights violations and attacks on LGBT people are common, though there are gay scenes in major cities.

Prague Pride parade draws 30,000

France24 – AFP, 10 August 2019

30,000 people braved the rain at Prague's Gay Pride march (AFP)

Prague (AFP) -  Tens of thousands of people took part in the Prague Pride parade of the LGBT community on Saturday while a similar march in neighbouring Poland went smoothly despite fears of far-right disruption.

"We had 30,000 people according to our estimate which we arrived at after consulting the police," said Bohdana Rambouskova, spokeswoman for the week-long Prague Pride festival.

"Everything went smoothly, everything was fine except the weather -- it rained throughout the parade," she told AFP.

In 2018, the event had been attended by 40,000 lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and supporters, according to Rambouskova.

Although the festival generally took place without a hitch, local media reported a couple of disruptions.

On Thursday, someone set fire to a rainbow flag in central Prague and fired flares at an island hosting the festival workshops and other events.

On Saturday, Prague cleaners had to wipe away oil poured onto a staircase along the march route.

In neighbouring Poland, around 2,000 people took part in a Gay Pride parade in the city of Plock, while a few hundred far-right nationalists held a counter-protest.

The peace was ensured by a heavy police presence -- a measure taken in the wake of a violent nationalist attack on an LGBT rally in the Polish city of Bialystok three weeks ago.

In conservative and Catholic Poland, which faces a general election in October, homosexuality is a hot topic, with the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party slamming gay rights as a threat to traditional values and families.

Some 30,000 people took part in the Prague Pride parade https://t.co/ISne6tn03R pic.twitter.com/wOIEH2vKGv

— AFP news agency (@AFP) 10 augustus 2019

Belfast Pride buoyed by gay marriage breakthrough

France24 –AFP, 3 August 2019

Irish Prime Minister, Leo Varadkar, joined the Gay Pride parade in Belfast,
Northern Ireland

Belfast (AFP) -Thousands of supporters of Northern Ireland's LGBT community took to the streets of Belfast on Saturday in Pride celebrations buoyed by the promise that same-sex marriage could soon be legal here.

An armoured police vehicle was decked out in rainbow colours and rainbow flags peppered the crowd, while a sound system blared out hit anthem "It's Raining Men" in defiance of the summer showers.

Leo Varadkar, prime minister of the Republic of Ireland to the south, was near the front of the parade, which was filled with fancy-dress and families.

Organisers hope that Belfast Pride will exceed the crowd of 55,000 they say turned out last year.

The event comes just weeks after the British parliament voted to extend same-sex marriage and abortion rights to Northern Ireland, which lags behind the rest of the country on equality issues.

The law would be changed unless the devolved government in Belfast, which has been suspended since January 2017, is reinstated by October 21.

"Everybody's entitled to the same rights, so here's hoping, yes, that it goes through," said Mary Francis White, a 53-year-old social care worker whose son is an openly gay Belfast councillor.

"And if it does go through, 100 percent absolutely there'll be a big, huge party."

- 'Still fighting for rights' -

Supporters of the global rights group Amnesty held up banners saying "Love is a human right", while one religious group, Christians at Pride, waved sign saying "We are all God's children."

Opinion polls show both abortion and same-sex marriage enjoy popular support in Northern Ireland.

But one of its main political parties, the Democratic Unionists (DUP), is strongly opposed and argues such issues should be decided in Belfast.

"We're still fighting for rights here," said John Eltham, a 46-year-old geographic consultant with a beard dyed in rainbow colours.

"It has been incredibly frustrating. Some of our politicians here really don't represent the majority view in Northern Ireland and there has been a desire for equal marriage here."

Lawmakers in London chose to act after a cascade of headline-hitting developments across the island.

In May 2018, the Republic of Ireland held a referendum to repeal their ban on abortion, voting with a landslide 66 percent in favour.

The case of a mother facing prosecution for allegedly buying abortion pills on the internet for her 15-year-old daughter has gained prominent media attention in Northern Ireland.

The fatal shooting of gay journalist Lyra McKee by dissident republicans in the Northern Irish city of Londonderry in April added to pressure for change.

Even though her death does not appear to have been linked to her sexuality, McKee has become an icon for the marriage equality movement.

Her partner Sara Canning -- who met with Varadkar before Belfast Pride on Saturday -- personally petitioned then prime minister Theresa May to intervene.

"The power of her personal story and the love that her and Sara shared has brought home... for many people actually what this debate has been about," Fergal McFerran, a friend of McKee and campaigner with LGBT rights group Stonewall told AFP in July.

But while many will be celebrating the imminent marriage rights breakthrough, campaigners remain on an active footing.

"There's still a long way to go. The trans healthcare system in Northern Ireland is in a crisis state," said Alexa Moore, the 19-year-old director of Transgender NI.

If the legislation comes into effect in October, the first same-sex marriages are slated to take place in January 2020.

North Macedonia hosts first Pride parade

France24 –AFP, 29 June 2019

Gay Pride participants carry carry a giant rainbow flag through the streets of
Skopje as North Macedonia holds its first ever such parade. AFP

Skopje (Republic of North Macedonia) (AFP) - A sea of rainbow colours filled Skopje's streets on Saturday as North Macedonia held its first Pride parade, with marchers calling for an end to LGBT discrimination in the largely conservative Balkans region.

Hundreds joined the march with whistles, an enormous rainbow flag, and signs as they walked through the city amid a formidable police presence.

"I am here to support human rights, but also to support friends who have been struggling to live fully and freely because of who they are," said Dafina, a 29-year-old Skopje resident.

Several ministers, MPs and ambassadors also joined the event which ended with a concert from local pop star Tamara Todevska, who sung her Eurovision hit "Proud".

"This (march) shows that our society is growing into a more mature society and moving forward," said Koco Andonovski, an LGBT activist from the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights.

But in different part of the capital, a conservative group organised a counter-rally for "family" values.

"If they want to a have parade, than we are not going let them be alone like winners on the street; we will parade for the right values as well," said one of the participants, 58-year-old Velko Veleski.

Discrimination against the LGBT community remains widespread in much of the Balkans region, though more countries are increasingly holding events like Pride parades to raise awareness.

North Macedonia is one of the last countries in the region to follow suit, with Bosnia next as it prepares its first Pride march in Sarajevo in September.

Britain's Prince William: 'fine by me' if children gay

Yahoo – AFP, June 26, 2019

Prince William's comments came during a visit to a charity dedicated to helping
young people made homeless due to their sexual orientation (AFP Photo/Jonathan Brady)

London (AFP) - Britain's Prince William said Wednesday it would be "fine by me" if his children came out as homosexual, but worried about the pressures it could place on them.

William and his wife Kate have three children: five-year-old Prince George, Princess Charlotte, four, and Prince Louis, who turned one in April.

William, 37, is second in line to the throne after his father Prince Charles, with George third in line to become king.

His comments came during a visit to the Albert Kennedy Trust (AKT), a charity dedicated to helping young people made homeless due to their sexual orientation.

During a discussion with people being supported by the organisation, William was asked how he would react if one of his children came out.

The Duke of Cambridge replied: "You really don't start thinking about that until you are a parent, and I think -- obviously absolutely fine by me.

"The one thing I'd be worried about is how they, particularly the roles my children fill, is how that is going to be interpreted and seen."

Message for society

Due to the monarchy's hereditary nature, William's children, in time, will become key figures in the royal family -- above all George.

The sovereign is the supreme governor of the Church of England and separately head of state of 16 countries around the world.

"It is something I'm nervous about, not because I'm worried about them being gay or anything -- it's more about the fact that I'm worried about the pressures... that they're going to face and how much harder their life could be," William said.

"I wish we lived in a world that it was... really normal and cool, but particularly for my family, and the position that we are in, that's the bit I am nervous about.

"I fully support whatever decision they make, but it does worry me from a parent point of view, how many barriers, hateful words, persecution, all that, and discrimination that might come.

"That's the bit that really troubles me.

"But that's for all of us to try and help correct and make sure that we can put that to the past."

AKT chief executive Tim Sigsworth, who is gay, said the prince's words would make a "massive difference".

Russia transgender woman wins case in rare win for LGBT rights

Yahoo – AFP, Marina KORENEVA, April 15, 2019

Anastasia was fired from her job in a private printing press in Saint Petersburg after
she underwent a gender reassignment operation in 2017 (AFP Photo/Olga MALTSEVA)

Saint Petersburg (AFP) - When Anastasia, a Russian transgender woman, took her employer to court for firing her after a gender reassignment operation, she did not expect to win.

"I knew the chances were slim, I understand what country I live in," the 43-year-old told AFP in her native Saint Petersburg.

But in the first known case of its kind in Russia, a court in the former imperial capital last week ruled she had been unfairly discriminated against and ordered compensation.

Local LGBT rights groups hailed the decision as a small victory in a country where gay and transgender people are often persecuted.

A so-called "gay propaganda" law officially forbids the promotion of "non-traditional sexual relations" to minors but in effect stops most LGBT campaigning.

"It is the first time that this type of case is discussed (in public)," Anastasia's lawyer Max Olenichev told AFP.

"This case has made transgender people visible," Olenichev said.

"That is very important."

Banned professions for women

For a decade, Anastasia worked for a private printing press in Russia's second city.

In 2017, she underwent a gender reassignment operation, legally changing her name and gender in her documents.

After this, her employer suggested she resign and -- when she refused -- fired her.

The company said she could not continue her job in printing, one of 456 professions from which women are officially banned in Russia.

Under Russian law, women cannot work as welders, long-distance truckers, sailors, blacksmiths, aircraft mechanics or hundreds of other roles, including those in printing.

But she said her reassignment was the real reason behind her firing.

"They did not want a person like me working for them," she said.

Lawyer Olenichev argued in court that Anastasia had done her job for ten years without any problems.

To their surprise, the Frunzensky court in Saint Petersburg ruled the company's decision "illegal" and demanded it pay Anastasia 1.8 million rubles (around $28,000) in compensation.

'Lack of information'

Anastasia told AFP that Russian society has a "mostly negative attitude" towards transgender people.

"This is not surprising, given that all the media says it is not normal," she said.

Anastasia has been with her partner for twenty years, and also has a teenage daughter. She said her family "accepts and loves" her "no matter what my status is".

But she considers herself lucky, saying that is not the case for many transgender people in Russia.

Mark Kandolsky, of the "Our Coming Out" gay rights group in Saint Petersburg, said many transgender people in Russia are forced to cut ties with their families.

"Due to a lack of information, Russian society is hostile to transgender people," he said.

Authorities have banned gay pride parades and since 2017 gay men have spoken of persecution in the Russian republic of Chechnya.

Despite having good relations with her family, Anastasia does not want to reveal her real identity and asks for her face not to be shown on camera.

"After all this, I just want to live quietly," she said.

Regional lawmaker is Germany's first transgender MP

Yahoo – AFP, Ralf ISERMANN with Yannick PASQUET in Berlin, January 14, 2019

Tessa Ganserer, member of the Bavarian state parliament, and formerly known
as Markus Ganserer, is believed to be the first transgender person in Germany to
 hold a regional or national MP's seat, or to change their gender while in office
(AFP Photo/Christof STACHE)

Munich (Germany) (AFP) - Transgender woman Tessa Ganserer will make history in Germany when she takes up her seat in the Bavarian regional parliament next week, three months after winning reelection as Markus Ganserer.

Giving her maiden press conference as a woman, the nation's first transgender lawmaker used the opportunity to urge Germany to make it easier for people to legally change their gender.

First elected in 2013, the Greens party representative served one term using her birth name Markus, sporting a light beard and glasses with a suit.

She came out a few weeks ago, announcing that she will live and work as a woman from now on, and appeared at Monday's Munich press conference in a blonde wig, make-up and dark jacket.

"Gender identity is a human right," Ganserer told reporters, urging an update to the more than 30-year-old law on transgender people.

"In future it should be possible for a person to apply to change their gender recorded at birth" with the authorities, she said.

At present people must secure backing from two doctors to officially change gender.

Ganserer is believed to be the first transgender person in Germany to hold a regional or national MP's seat, or to change their gender while in office.

Her call for easier recognition of transgender people, cultural change among public servants and action against homophobia and transphobia comes after a series of abrupt changes for Germany -- long a laggard on social issues.

Parliament legislated last month for a third gender on birth certificates after a Constitutional Court decision that the documents must acknowledge intersex people.

And in 2017, MPs pushed through gay marriage after Chancellor Angela Merkel said she would allow members of her party to vote with their conscience.

While Ganserer was reelected to her Bavarian parliament seat, in the United States Democratic Party candidate Christine Hallquist recently failed in her bid to become the first transgender woman governor in Vermont.

'Not for fun

"I am not doing this for fun -- I didn't choose to be a woman," Ganserer said Monday.

Just a few weeks ago, she had said both Markus and Tessa remained a part of her.

But from now on she hopes to live as a female politician, wife and mother of two children.

While Bavaria is a strongly conservative and mostly Catholic region, the president of the regional parliament Ilse Aigner of the Christian Social Union (CSU) backed the change.

"Mrs Ganserer has taken a very brave and highly personal decision," Aigner said last week.

The CSU usually takes very conservative positions on social questions and opposed the federal gay marriage law.

"Our male colleague is becoming a female colleague, that should not be a problem in this house," Aigner said in a public statement after speaking with Ganserer.

"A person's personality is always more important than their gender."

At the first plenary session of the year from January 23, the Greens party MP will be registered as a woman.

'Getting used to it'

Among fellow MPs, "many definitely still have to get used to it," Aigner said.

One member of the pro-business FDP cried, "What are you playing at here? A drag queen?" when he first saw Ganserer in a long blonde wig and make-up in the Munich chamber, daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung (SZ) reported.

While she has made little public comment, she told the paper that she "discovered" herself as a woman around 10 years ago when looking in the mirror wearing a dress.

Since then, she has picked her way through different roles: as a man, father, husband, woman, wife, and mother.

Now, her doubts are so far gone that she has told her sons, 11 and 6, that "from now on I will always be like this".

"Children don't have prejudices. If you present the world to them in a friendly way, they will accept it as it is," Ganserer said.

She doesn't plan to undergo any medical procedures, but to mark the definitive arrival of Tessa, Ganserer took a major step: she packed all her ties, shirts and suit jackets into bags and gave them away.

Related Article:

"The Akashic Circle" – Jul 17, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: Religion, The Humanization of God, Benevolent Design, DNA, Akashic Circle, (Old) Souls, Gaia, Indigenous People, Talents, Reincarnation, Genders, Gender Switches, In “between” Gender Change, Gender Confusion, Shift of Human Consciousness, Global Unity,..... etc.)  - (Text version)

“… Gender Switching

Old souls, let me tell you something. If you are old enough, and many of you are, you have been everything. Do you hear me? All of you. You have been both genders. All of you have been what I will call between genders, and that means that all of you have had gender switches. Do you know what happens when it's time for you to switch a gender? We have discussed it before. You'll have dozens of lifetimes as the same gender. You're used to it. It's comfortable. You cannot conceive of being anything else, yet now it's time to change. It takes approximately three lifetimes for you to get used to it, and in those three lifetimes, you will have what I call "gender confusion."

It isn't confusion at all. It's absolutely normal, yet society often will see it as abnormal. I'm sitting here telling you you've all been through it. All of you. That's what old souls do. It's part of the system. …”

Romania's constitutional court backs rights for gay couples

Yahoo – AFP, 27 September 2018

Romania's constitutional court said gay couples (pictured June 2018) have the same
rights to a private life and a family life as heterosexuals and thus should benefit
from legal "recognition of their rights and obligations"

Romania's constitutional court ruled Thursday that gay couples should have the same family rights as heterosexuals, a judgment that runs counter to a referendum next month seeking to interdict gay marriage.

The court said gay couples had the same rights to a private life and a family life as heterosexuals and thus should "benefit, in the long term, from legal... recognition of their rights and obligations".

The landmark ruling comes before a referendum planned for October 6 and 7, seeking to restrict the constitutional definition of "family" to heterosexual, married couples.

The vote was called by a group called "Coalition for the Family" and others close to the Orthodox Church.

The proposal is to change the constitution to stipulate that marriage is between a man and a woman, and not simply "spouses", as it currently states.

The plebiscite has already been criticised by Amnesty International, which says it would breach international human rights standards and amount to homophobic discrimination.

Thursday's ruling was in a case brought by a US-Romanian couple who had asked the authorities to recognise their marriage, registered in Belgium, so the American could move with his husband to Romania.

The constitutional court based its judgment on a ruling issued in June by the Court of Justice of the European Union.

Romania is a very conservative country where most people are members of the Orthodox Church, and only legalised homosexuality at the beginning of the 2000s.

Rainbow flags fly across Europe at Gay Pride parades

Yahoo – AFP, June 9, 2018

Marchers carry a rainbow flag aloft at a Gay Pride parade in Zagreb, Croatia
(AFP Photo/STRINGER)

Bucharest (AFP) - Thousands of people took to the streets to support LGBT rights in cities across Europe on Saturday, with marchers waving rainbow flags and condemning discrimination in all its forms.

Peaceful parades took place across European cities including the capitals of Italy, Greece, Latvia, Croatia, Bulgaria, Romania and Poland.

In Bucharest, some 3,000 people marched through the city centre with many celebrating a ruling made by the EU's top court earlier this week.

The European Court of Justice ruled in favour of Romanian gay man Relu Coman's right to have his US husband Robert "Clai" Hamilton live with him in Romania.

"Clai and I are two people who did not accept discrimination. If more of us did the same, the world would be better," Coman told AFP at the march.

Romania does not recognise same-sex marriage and had argued that Hamilton was not entitled to EU residency rights awarded to spouses.

The European court ruling means that same-sex partners of EU citizens have the right to live in any member state whatever their nationality, even in countries that do not recognise gay marriage.

Two men kiss at the Baltic Pride parade in Latvia's capital Riga (AFP 

Photo/Ilmars ZNOTINS)

In Warsaw, tens of thousands marched for the annual "Equality Parade" to protest discrimination not just against LGBT people but also women, ethnic minorities and people with disabilities.

Organisers said 45,000 people took part, while the town hall gave a lower estimate of 23,000.

'Love knows no boundaries'

"I come from a small town and first marched for equality 10 years ago, without telling my parents," Dominika Wroblewska said at the Warsaw parade.

"It's very moving for me, especially since I came out a year ago," she said.

Rainbow flags fly at the parade in Riga (AFP Photo/Ilmars ZNOTINS)

Her partner Alicja Nauman said she was marching "because I want to live in a place where all love is accepted, because love knows no boundaries".

"The situation in Poland is bad because same-sex couples cannot marry or adopt children."

Thousands, including members of a LGBT police association, also turned out for the 14th edition of Gay Pride in Athens.

The Athens events had previously been largely shunned by institutions and notably harassed by far-right groups, but this year's edition was attended by a delegation from the liberal-conservative New Democracy party.

Not to be outdone, the facade of parliament, overlooking Syntagma square at the heart of the festivities, was symbolically lit up in all colours of the rainbow in a government initiative.

Since the leftist government took office in 2015, Greece has extended civil partnerships to same-sex couples, authorised sex changes from the age of 15 and legislated for children to be adopted by same-sex partners -- though New Democracy voted against the reforms which the powerful Orthodox Church also opposes.

The "Baltic Pride" parade in Latvia's capital Riga included members of the gay community from fellow Baltic states Estonia and Lithuania.

A handful of anti-gay protesters rally before the parade in Riga (AFP Photo/

Ilmars ZNOTINS)

One of the organisers, Kaspars Zalitis, told AFP that about eight thousand people marched.

"Latvia is in last place in the European Union when it comes to the rights of LGBT people," Zalitis said.

"There is no protection against hate crimes, no respect for trans people, that's why we think this issue is greatly urgent."

About 30 people protested before the start of the parade in Riga, following a call by a rightwing group for a demonstration against "the promotion of homosexuality".

In Rome, thousands also marched Saturday just days after Italy's new families minister from the far-right League party caused a storm, saying homosexual families do not legally exist.

"It's very important that we're here, because we need to respond and show that it's not true that we don't exist," said Andrea, 27.