Five years after the 2021 law made queer content off-limits to under-18s, and six months after the EU's top court called it a breach of the Union's 'very identity', Hungarian MPs have voted it out. Here's what changes, what doesn't, and what Hungarian activists say comes next.
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Tonight: Zsófi, from Budapest
A Budapest librarian, a box of picture books, and a front shelf she can finally fill.
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In more than half of the violent incidents Zagreb Pride documented, police or courts failed to recognise the hate motive. Five years after Europe's human rights court ruled against Croatia over a €40 fine for a homophobic attack, activists say not enough has changed.
A new Human Rights Watch report documents hundreds of arrests, forced HIV tests and lawyers scared off cases since Senegal doubled its penalties for same-sex relations. The Youth Olympic Games open in Dakar on October 31.
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.
In Roe v. Johnston, the federal appeals court ruled that Arizona's court-order route lets any trans person change the sex marker on their birth certificate without proof of surgery, and that judges can't refuse on a hunch the state won't comply. It also rejected the constitutional claims.
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.
A survey of health workers by the Indian Mental Health Alliance found about 76% say the Transgender Persons Amendment Act significantly cuts access to care. Some clinics have stopped hormones; others add paperwork and fees, while a Supreme Court challenge waits.
The $100 million Federal 2SLGBTQI+ Action Plan expires in March 2027. On October 6, dozens of queer and trans organisations lobbied Ottawa to renew it, warning that groups are already closing. The government says it's still reviewing.
In the High Court on October 8, the BBC retracted the allegations it broadcast about Benjamin Cohen and Anthony James in a 2024 documentary and agreed to pay compensation. The couple say the claims leaned on one of the oldest homophobic tropes there is.
Justina Shiroka-Pula's last-minute election on October 7 kept Kosovo's Assembly from dissolving into a fourth snap vote. That keeps same-sex partnerships in the Civil Code possible, though still far from certain.
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.
Simon Stone's Elsinore, with Andrew Scott as the gay Chariots of Fire star who played Hamlet while dying of AIDS, got a standing ovation at the BFI London Film Festival. Scott's message: 'The shame doesn't lie with us.'
Albania's queer film festival opened at Tirana's University of Arts with 19 films and 19 international guests, and runs until October 25. The bigger story is where it's going: 11 towns beyond the capital.
Czech Television says budget cuts mean no Czech entry, and no broadcast, for next May's contest in Bulgaria. It joins Ireland and the Netherlands on the sidelines, while Canada gets ready for its debut.
Dame Esther Rantzen, who founded Childline in 1986, has died aged 86. Beyond That's Life and her assisted dying campaign, she put coming out and trans lives on daytime TV long before it was easy, and built a helpline that still answers young LGBTQ+ people today.
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.
Lesbian Visibility Week 2026 runs through April 26 with programming across the UK, North America, and Western Europe. In the Balkans, queer women's visibility is a quieter, more complicated project — and the absence is not accidental.
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.
