LGBT

Greece's parliament has approved a new law that will make it easier for people to change their legal gender, reported BBC. 

Citizens over the age of 15 will now be able to change their gender with a court ruling and without requiring a medical operation.

By Paul McHugh *

Germany celebrates the first gay marriage after decades of struggle, though activists claim that the battle for equal rights has not yet ended, reports novini. 

Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Nils Muižnieks has criticized Turkish authorities for banning the LGBT Pride march in Istanbul for a third year running, urging them to uphold the right to freedom of assembly.

Ten people were detained at the LGBT Pride March in Istanbul's Taksim Square on June 25, as tension rose after the Istanbul Governor's Office banned the march.

Police took strict measures at the entrance of the square and İstiklal Avenue, carrying out ID checks and searches, Doğan News Agency reported.

BELGRADE - A pride parade will take place in Belgrade on September 18,  Boban Stojanovic from the Pride Parade Organizing Committee said on Tuesday.

At a conference on homophobia in Serbia held on the occasion of International Day against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia, he described as important the fact that the gay pride march would go through downtown streets.

The European Court of Human Rights, ECHR, on Tuesday fined Croatia for discriminating against same-sex couples by not granting residence permits to couples in which one partner comes from abroad.

Montenegrin LGBT activists hope to walk the streets of the capital, Podgorica, for the third Gay Pride March, set for December 13.

The organizer of the parade, Queer Montenegro, an NGO, on Wednesday said it had decided to change the route from the one used during the previous two years.

This year's Belgrade Pride Week will start on September 14 while the main Pride march will be September 20, the organizers announced on Thursday.

Goran Miletic, one of the organizers, said that they expected few obstacles in organizing this year's event, but added that public opinion towards same-sex relations was slow to change in Serbia.

A recently published book has revealed tortures and pressures LGBT inmates face in Turkey.