APRIL 2011

Apr 30: Belarus:
Minsk Equality Festival to Stage Premier of Gay Pride Documentary Film.   A special private screening of East Bloc Love is one of the features of the Equality Festival in Minsk next month.

Apr 28: Russia:
Third of All Russians Have Heard About Attempts to Stage Gay Prides in Moscow, Poll Reveals.   One in three of all Russians have heard about attempts to stage Gay Prides in Moscow, a poll by Public Opinion Foundation published today reveals.

Apr 28: Russia:
Is Next Month’s Moscow Gay Pride Permitted or Banned?.   Deputy Mayor: City Hall is still considering the application.  Nikolai Baev: “We feel lonely and confused”. Nikolai Alekseev: “Welcome to Russian politics”

Apr 26: UK:
Gay Football Team Meets the Hard Boys of a Sunday League – Special Screening of Kick Off in Liverpool to Mark IDAHO.  Homophobia in Football is one of the aspects that will be featured in the many events organised across the United Kingdom on International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia (IDAHO) next month.

Apr 26: Russia:
Moscow Gay Pride OK’d by City Authorities?  The Moscow city authorities have given the go ahead to this year’s Moscow Gay Pride, it was announced this morning.  But according to Interfax-Religion, no permission has been granted.  The news agency is reporting that an un-named source at the Moscow Regional Security Department said: “They have not received permission ... And they are not likely to get it.”

Apr 20: Belarus:
Belarusian Gay Activist: “If Everyone Sits at Home, Will Things Ever Change?” – An Interview With Sergey Yenin.  Fighting for democracy is a real challenge in Belarus, to say the least.  Fighting especially for gay rights is even more difficult.  In a country where homophobia is widespread, LGBT activists hardly get any support to their cause.  Despite the risk it creates for their safety, they still believe that if being visible is a risk, it is also the only chance to change things.

Apr 19: UK:
Scottish Greens Manifesto Backs Marriage Equality.  A commitment to marriage equality is pledged by the Scottish Green Party in its manifesto, published today for Scottish Parliament election on May 5.

Apr 18: UK:
William and Kate Can Marry, Gay Men and Women Can’t.  By Peter Tatchell.   We wish William and Kate every happiness.  May they have a joyful marriage and a wonderful married life together.  The royal couple are lucky.   They have the option to get married.  Gay couples don’t have this option.   They are barred by law from marriage.

Apr 13: Lithuania:
Lithuanian Parliamentary Committee Votes to “Improve” the Ban on “Gay Propaganda”.   A majority of the members of the Committee on Legal Affairs of Lithuanian Parliament today voted for the “improvement” of a legislative amendment which seeks to establish harsh fines for the “propagation of homosexual relations in the public”.

Apr 12: Russia:
Application for Sixth Moscow Gay Pride Lodged with Moscow Mayor’s Office.   An application to stage Gay Pride in Moscow next month was lodged this morning with the capital’s Mayor’s office and the city’s police department. The Pride is scheduled for Saturday May 28.  In the past, application has been made two weeks prior to the event.  But this year, organisers decided to apply on the basis of a “mass cultural and educational event”, rather than as a “political rally”.

Apr 9: United Kingdom:
Exeter Pride in Pictures

Apr 8: Gibraltar:
Another Step Towards Equality Says Gibraltar Gay Rights Following Court Ruling.   After almost eleven years of their campaign to bring equality to Gibraltar’s age of consent law, Equality Rights Group GGR is today celebrating what they consider to be “a first but very hard won step forward towards equality for all sexual minorities in Gibraltar”.

Apr 8: Europe:
European Convention on Violence Against Women to Include Protection for Lesbian Bisexual and Transgender Women.   ILGA-Europe has welcomed the announcement yesterday by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe has adopted a new convention to protect women from violence, which includes lesbian, bisexual and transgender women.

Apr 7: European Union:
Gay, Lesbian Asylum Claims Must Be Handled by Trained Staff, Insists UK MEP.   Asylum claims from LGBT applicants should only be dealt with by fully trained staff, Liberal Democrat (ALDE) MEP Sarah Ludford (London) said this morning.

Apr 7: Macedonia:
Macedonia Must Protect Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual People, Says European Parliament.   The European Parliament today adopted its annual progress report on the accession of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia to the European Union, asking the country to outlaw discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation.

Apr 6: European Union:
European Parliament Calls for Special Protection of Gay, Lesbian, Transgender Asylum Seekers.   Members of the European Parliament voted today to modernise the EU-wide system for examining asylum claims.  Among the measures adopted today, groups of asylum-seekers with special needs were updated to include people fleeing persecution based on their sexual orientation or gender identity.

Apr 3: Russia:
It Is “Impossible” to Ban a Gay Pride – Special Rapporteur of PACE Russia.   The Special Rapporteur of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) to Russia, Swiss MP Andreas Gross, has said that Russia has no right to ban Gay Prides.

Apr 3: UK:
Lord Mayor to Start Exeter’s Annual Gay Pride Celebration.   The Lord Mayor of Exeter will start Exeter’s third pride event, one of the area’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) celebrations, on Saturday, April 9.

Apr 1: European Union:
New Report on Fundamental Rights in the EU: More Political Courage Needed, Say MEPs.   MEPs this morning said that more political courage was needed in implementing fundamental rights across the European Union.