Eastern Europe was once a world lear on gay rights. Then ran out of spegoats | CNN

Contents:

• GAY PRIS 2023 AND 2024
• GAY US AMBASSADOR TO HUNGARY MARCH BUDAPT PRI MARCH
• PROTTERS MARCH BELGRA AGAST PLANNED GAY PRI EVENT
• EASTERN EUROPE WAS ONCE A WORLD LEAR ON GAY RIGHTS. THEN RAN OUT OF SPEGOATS
• BT GAY PRI PARAS
• 9 MOST GAY-FRIENDLY COUNTRI IN EUROPE
• GAY PRI

GAY PRIS 2023 AND 2024

The 28th annual event as the untry's laws, which ban the pictn of homosexualy or genr transn, to mors unr 18 have begun to be applied wh creasg regulary, rultg f and other penalti for those who dissemate LGBTQ+ ntent.

Photograph: Attila Kisbenek/AFP Thoands of Hungarians braved srchg heat for the annual Pri march Budapt on Saturday, prottg agast ernment ntrols over public displays by the LGBT mister Viktor Orban’s ernment promot a Christian-nservative agenda and 2021 banned “display and promotn of homosexualy” books and films accsible by unr-18s spe strong cricism om rights groups and the European Unn. Neher anisers nor the ernment gave a number for the marchers, though wns timated about 10, ads for the Pri para were only allowed to be aired late at night, wh most channels not takg the risk at all, Hungarian news se this week, Hungary's send-largt bookseller received a rerd fe for sellg a book that picts homosexualy whout closed wrappg. Image source, RtersImage ptn, Protters broke through a police rdon to stop the Pri eventUp to 2, 000 anti-LGBT protters stormed a gay pri ftival Geia's pal Tbilisi on Saturday, forcg s right-wg protters, who clud Orthodox Christian clergy, scuffled wh police, shed the stage and burned rabow anisers and Geia's print blamed anti-LGBT hate speech that preced the event, and said the police had failed to protect ftival-goers.

Up to 2, 000 anti-LGBT protters broke up a Gay Pri ftival the Geian pal, Tbilisi, on July 8, scufflg wh police and stroyg props, cludg rabow flags and plards, though there were no reports of juri. Male homosexual relatnships were ual Ancient civilisatns until the adoptn of Christianism by the Roman Empire and the Christian terpretatn of marriage beme stutnalised. What was strikg there was not the fact that homosexual terurse uld be punished by ath, but the fact that the provisns had not been relaxed durg the 18th century.

GAY US AMBASSADOR TO HUNGARY MARCH BUDAPT PRI MARCH

In the g years, attempts to lete om German legislatn failed, and they even backfired as plans were troduced to outlaw female homosexual acts as well, but World War I halted them.

PROTTERS MARCH BELGRA AGAST PLANNED GAY PRI EVENT

Wh weeks of achievg the ernment, the Nazi Party started s purge of gay clubs Berl, banned homosexual publitns, and forba gay groups; this crackdown led up to the Instut’s dissolutn, and the German LGBT muny would not be exempt om the horrors of the Third Reich. The Dutch chary Cultuur en Ontspanngscentm (Centre for Culture and Leisure) was sential the velopment of a gay subculture Amsterdam durg the fifti and sixti. Wh the turn of the lennium, Madrid Pri’s succs had not only brought LGBT rights to the fore but also helped Madrid blossom as a gay-iendly touristic statn.

EASTERN EUROPE WAS ONCE A WORLD LEAR ON GAY RIGHTS. THEN RAN OUT OF SPEGOATS

Notwhstandg the facts, Poland lets homosexual mal donate blood, which is somethg still forbidn several Wtern untri, and n take pri beg the only European untry where homosexualy has never been illegal. While Rsia lets trans persons change their documents after unrgog reassignment surgery, feral law explicly prohibs so-lled gay propaganda, actually makg nearly impossible for LGBT dividuals to live openly and to discs all matters related to their sexual orientatns or genr inti. Usually, durg the LGBTQ event Week, visors n attend workshops, movi, theatre performanc, parti, and other LGBT activi, like Miss Drag queen or Mister Gay North End of JuneCheck out the official webseVienna PriIn 2019, Vienna was the host of the EuroPri Ftival.

REUTERS/Irakli Genidze TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY Acquire Licensg RightsJuly 8 (Rters) - Up to 2, 000 anti-LGBT protters broke up a Gay Pri ftival the Geian pal Tbilisi on Saturday, scufflg wh police and stroyg props cludg rabow flags and plards, though there were no reports of juri. Geia has passed laws agast discrimatn and hate crim, but LGBT+ rights groups say there is a lack of aquate protectn by law enforcement officials and homophobia remas wispread the socially nservative South Cs years ago, several journalists were beaten durg attacks on LGBT+ activists Tbilisi.

Origs of Pri MonthThe roots of the gay rights movement go back to the early 1900s, when a handful of dividuals North Ameri and Europe created gay and lbian anizatns such as the the Society for Human Rights, found by Henry Gerber Chigo the 1920s. Followg World War II, a small number of groups like the Mattache Society and the Dghters of Bilis published gay- and lbian-posive newsletters and grew more vol mandg regnn for, and prottg discrimatn agast, gays and lbians.

BT GAY PRI PARAS

In 1966, for example, members of the Mattache Society held a “sip-” prott at Juli, a bar New York Cy, where they mand drks after announcg that they were gay, vlatn of lol laws agast servg alhol to gays and lbians. Dpe some progrs the postwar era, basic civil rights were largely nied to gay, lbian, bisexual and transgenr people—until one night June, 1969, when the gay rights movement took a fur step forward wh a seri of vlent rts New York Cy.

By the time the Stonewall Rts end on July 2, 1969, the gay rights movement went om beg a ge issue largely ignored by policians and the media to ont-page news Gay Pri ParaOne year later, durg the anniversary of the Stonewall Rts, activists New York Cy marched through the streets of Manhattan memoratn of the uprisg. The march, anized by the Eastern Regnal Conference of Homophile Organizatns (ERCHO) and the Christopher Street Liberatn Day Umbrella Commtee, was named the Christopher Street Liberatn Day time, that celebratn me to be simply known as the Gay Pri Para. March and paras also took place that June Chigo, Los Angel and San the years, gay pri events have spread om large ci to smaller towns and villag worldwi—even plac where reprsn and vlence agast gays and lbians are monplace.

The atmosphere at the events n range om r, rnivalque celebratns to strint polil prott to solemn memorials for those lost to AIDS or homophobic June 2000, Print Bill Clton officially signated June as Gay and Lbian Pri Month, regnn of the Stonewall Rts and gay activism throughout the years.

9 MOST GAY-FRIENDLY COUNTRI IN EUROPE

A more-clive name was chosen 2009 by Print Barack Obama: Lbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgenr Pri origs of Gay Pri Month were also honored by Obama when, 2016, he created the Stonewall Natnal Monument, a 7. 7-acre around the Stonewall Inn where the morn gay rights movement, Gay Pri paras many ci are enormo celebratns: The events Sao Plo, Sydney, New York Cy, Madrid, Taipei and Toronto routely attract up to 5 ln Pri Month has grown populary across the globe, cricism of the events has grown, too. Many early anizers now cry the mercial fluence and rporate nature of Pri paras—pecially when those rporatns make donatns to policians who vote agast gay, lbian and transgenr Pri events are nohels seen as val protts agast reprsn and isolatn plac such as Serbia, Turkey and Rsia, where Pri paras have been met wh antigay vlence.

It’s one of only five untri to make queer rights equal at a nstutnal level and holds first place on ILGA-Europe’s Rabow Europe Inx, which ranks untri on LGBTQ+ my last vis, a gay gui showed me round the wdg medieval streets of Valletta and Rabat, potg out sential bars and rtrants om Michel-starred Noni to the Monaliza Lounge drag bar, as well as the nightclub Michelangelo lively Paceville. This spir filters down to Dubl’s many LGBTQ-iendly tablishments: two personal favour are iendly bnch spot Social Fabric Café Stoneybatter, one of the cy’s most tertg neighbourhoods, and Street 66 bar, a eful cktail spot before a night at inic LGBTQ+ stutn The southsi is gay-owned Gutter Bookshop (named after the famo Osr Wil quote), and the weekly “big gay dis” Sunday Social at Farrier & Draper; or cross the river for the Outhoe LGBTQ+ muny rource fe on Capel Street and PantiBar, owned by drag queen, activist and performer Panti Bliss.

GAY PRI

Enjoy bnch at Osr bar and fe, before a beer at one of Europe’s olst gay bars, Centralhjor, which hosts drag and Sunday jazz ssns venu clu Bøssehet Christiania, home to theatre, performanc, exhibns and parti – a well-suated boutique hotel is SP34 (doubl om £133) the Lat Quarter. Nearby Delmoni’s (known lolly as “Del’s”), has been Merchant Cy’s “gay triangle” sce stay nearby, try the good-value Bnswick hotel (doubl om £50), on a street wh venu marked by rabow flags.

Photograph: Nick Maslen/AlamyOn my last vis to Birmgham the rabow flag seemed to be everywhere, and the historic Gay Village, wh s bars, shops and f, is hugely visible, centred largely on Hurst Street.

Start wh bibimbap at the thoroughfare’s Korean rtrant Topokki before drks at Missg, Siwalk or lbian bar The Fox and dancg at the legendary Nightgale Club, the olst gay club the cy, datg back to summer’s hot LGBTQ+ event is Fierce’s Healg Garns of Bab (27 June - 17 July): part of Birmgham 2022 Ftival, ’s an artistic rponse to this summer’s Commonwealth Gam, celebratg “what the Brish Empire tried (and failed) to stamp out”.

Mykonos’s rep as queer heaven dat back to the 1970s, when Jackie Onassis beme a regular visor (she first vised 1961), before blossomed as gay rort the 1980s, wh acmodatn sprgg up for the largely male 2022, you n hang out at tablished hotspots Jackie O, bar Porta or Kastro’s, and stay at the Super Paradise (doubl om £249), handy for the island’s ma LGBTQ+ beach.

Photograph: Subodh Agnihotri/AlamyFor many gay men of a certa age, Fland is extribly associated wh leather-clad inic hero Tom of Fland, whose books pict a ggedly sexualised masculy durg a time pre-1971 when homosexualy was still illegal.

Now you n take a tour of where thor Too Laaksonen lived his whole adult life, passg the Kansalaistori (People’s Square) ont of parliament, once a clanste meetg pot for gay karaoke fans should check out Mann’s Street, a boozy stutn; other fun spots are Street Pri the Kamppi district, and Kvääristö, a jot for queer women, transgenr, and non-bary people. 5ln people each year, cludg 300, 000 overseas self is one of the most LGBTQ-iendly untri the world: same-sex sexual activy was ma legal 1979, and was the third untry to legalise gay marriage, 2005.