On October 26, 1996, a handful of intersex activists protested outside a paediatricians' conference in Boston. Thirty years on, Europe has its first intersex rights standard, but ILGA-Europe counts just six countries that ban unnecessary interventions on intersex children, and none that properly enforce it.
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Coos Huijsen is widely remembered as the first openly gay member of a national parliament anywhere. He came out after his partner was challenged at his swearing-in, then spent 50 years as a teacher, historian and campaigner. He died in Amsterdam on October 19.
The Albanian activist, who left Tirana in 2017 after death threats, says he and his partner Erjon Tela are expecting a daughter, Lili, via surrogacy in Canada. Back home, a family like theirs still can't exist on paper.
On October 21, Justice Dale La Hood set aside the government's ban on new puberty blocker prescriptions for gender dysphoria, finding it unlawful discrimination under the Bill of Rights and made without proper consultation. NZ First wants an appeal.
A degenerative knee injury has ended the Adelaide 36ers centre's career. Four years after he came out on court, Humphries is staying with the club, and his legacy is bigger than his stat line.
Three parties promise to write LGBTQ+ equality and recognition for same-sex couples into law. Likud has no stated policy, and the Aguda's new report tracks budget cuts and stalled bills under the outgoing government.
Rob Jetten and Argentine hockey player Nicolás Keenan are expecting their first child in spring 2027 with a Dutch surrogate and egg donor who are friends of the couple. Here's what Dutch law allows, and what the government wants to change.
On October 21, the Supreme Court refused the administration's emergency request in Trump v. Kingdom, leaving in place a lower-court order that blocks the Bureau of Prisons' 2026 policy ending hormone therapy and accommodations for trans inmates.
More than 30 posters, photos and objects, including an activist's Pride flag and an early gay magazine, were pulled from Bogotá's Museo Nacional. Hundreds protested, six museums objected, and a court has stepped in. Here's what happened.
WA's Equal Opportunity Bill 2026, introduced this week, would end religious schools' power to discriminate over sexuality, the biggest overhaul of the state's anti-discrimination law in more than 40 years. Religion-based hiring stays. Here's what changes.
A BIRN investigation traces at least €250,000 from Serbia's Directorate for the Diaspora to groups across the region. Two Banja Luka recipients campaigned against the 2023 LGBTQ+ event that ended in an attack. Here's what the reporting shows, and what it doesn't.
About 350 people walked from the Government building to Argentina Square on October 3 for the 14th Montenegro Pride. It passed peacefully, and the demands were concrete: trans recognition without forced medical procedures, and partnership rights that actually work.
Postponed from June by a heat wave, the Marche des Fiertés crossed Paris on October 3 with tens of thousands of people and one clear message ahead of next year's presidential election: the far right is not welcome.
Totnes Pride's 'Capture the Castle' drew around 400 people to watch a 150-metre Pride flag unfurled across Totnes Castle on September 26. Organisers said it shows 'queer people have always been here'. A few online critics disagreed, loudly.
Queer Montenegro's 14th Pride runs September 28 to October 3 in Podgorica, closing the Balkan Pride season with a march that puts trans sterilization requirements and missing family rights at the front of the line.
Pip Archer and Stella Pryor said their vows on BBC Radio 4 on Sunday, with a gale outside and one of the most quietly queer lines the show has ever broadcast. Here's why a farming soap getting this right matters.
Born in Mendoza in 1944, Ana Lupez danced through Argentina's revue theatres, left the country under the dictatorship, and became the star and then co-owner of one of Barcelona's most famous cabarets. She died on October 14 in the city where she was born.
Viewers spotted that the pro-trans slogan had been digitally removed from the House of the Dragon actor's rehearsal top. The BBC points to its rules on branding and slogans; critics aren't buying it.
For LGBTQ+ History Month: Sarajevo Open Centre's free, 274-page History of Queer Life in Bosnia and Herzegovina digs through archives, folk songs and old newspapers to show queer lives from Ottoman Sarajevo to the first activists. Here are five stories worth knowing.
Only 12% of LGBTIQ people in Albania, 21% in North Macedonia and 29% in Serbia say they're fairly or very open, against 51% across the EU. On National Coming Out Day, here's what the numbers mean, and why coming out is yours to time.
Most anti-LGBTI violence in Albania is never reported. A 2026 Council of Europe report explains why, and what does exist: a free anti-discrimination complaints line, a hate-crime provision, and a dedicated LGBTI shelter. Here's how it all works.
We've lived in Tirana on and off since 2022, and spent time in Sarandë and Durrës too. Here's our honest answer to the question we get asked most: is Albania actually safe for a gay couple?
Pride season is over, WorldPride is pulling everyone toward Amsterdam, and we're still here in Tirana. Here's what an ordinary queer July looks like in the city we keep coming back to.
Albania just issued its first hormone therapy guideline for trans adults, and the country's religious leaders are pushing back hard. We're spending part of our year in Tirana. Here's what that argument looks like from the ground.
As Amsterdam hosts the global Pride movement this fortnight, the view from Tirana is a reminder that the distance between a canal parade and a still-banned march is measured in more than kilometers.
Skopje, Sarajevo, Pristina, Belgrade — one Pride after another went off this season, many without incident. Living here, we've learned the real question isn't the march. It's the 51 weeks after it.
Tirana Pride marches Saturday. On Friday we went to the diplomatic reception that traditionally opens Pride week here, and the most telling thing in the room was who was no longer at the front of it.
