The Council of Europe, whose 46 members include Turkey and every Balkan state that belongs to it, adopted its first strategy on equal rights for LGBTI people on September 24. It runs 2027–2032 and targets disinformation, hate and weak laws.
Watch · 0:59 The story in under a minute Europe's Human Rights Body Adopts Its First-Ever LGBTI Equality Strategy, and Montenegro Will Launch It Watch now New guest every dayInspired by today's news
Tonight: Teo, from Podgorica
A soaked sign painter, a march on Saturday, and one very runny slogan.
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On September 26, Gavin Newsom signed a six-bill package aimed squarely at Trump administration policies: help for trans service members pushed out of the military, shields for gender-affirming care records, an updated conversion therapy law and more PrEP access.
The world's richest short film prize for LGBTQ+ stories celebrates its 20th edition in Cardiff with 35 shorts from 22 countries, a record 16 features, Desert Hearts with Donna Deitch in person, and an online festival for UK viewers.
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.
At least a dozen transgender service members discharged under Trump's military ban say they're still waiting for separation pay, in one case more than $300,000. Seven House Democrats want the Pentagon's numbers.
At the UN LGBTI Core Group's General Assembly event, Volker Türk said persecution is escalating 'at an alarming rate.' The Netherlands and UK pledged new money to fill the hole left by US aid cuts. Washington sent no official representative.
Albania's 2021–2027 National Action Plan for LGBTI people runs out next year. An inclusive gender equality law and a hormone therapy guideline got done. Partnership recognition, legal gender recognition and stronger hate crime law did not.
At Archbishop Thabo Makgoba's final Provincial Synod, the Anglican Church of Southern Africa rejected a motion to pray for members in committed same-sex unions by 78 votes to 71. Queer Anglicans say the door is closed for now, but closer to opening than ever.
In the same week, the FPÖ asked Austria's parliament to ban rainbow pedestrian crossings and mocked Vienna's queer history centre Qwien for installing armoured glass near a far-right venue. Every other party pushed back.
Croatia's Supreme Court has rejected conservative group Vigilare's bid to overturn a discrimination ruling over its 2020 campaign against a TV documentary about a lesbian-led family. Rainbow Families says the ruling shows where debate ends and discrimination begins.
Pope Leo XIV began a four-day visit to Paris, Lourdes and Metz on September 25. France's oldest LGBT association is showing up to be seen, and its members say kind words are no longer enough.
Munich's Oktoberfest opened this weekend with its traditional Rosa Wiesn keg tapping and Gay Sunday. New this year is a Pink Monday that includes the festival's first event for lesbians and FLINTA people. Here's the full queer calendar through October 4.
We've been here seven days. That's not enough to tell you where to eat, but it is enough to lay out the practical scaffolding — visas, currency, connectivity, cost — and to be honest about what we don't know yet.
Podgorica's march is expected in October, as in recent years. Five years after the Life Partnership Act passed, the European Commission says it is still awaiting full implementation, and the self-determination law has never reached a vote.
Eighty-five days in Portugal used up our Schengen allowance, and Albanian friends have spent years telling us to come here. Today we landed in Pristina, and immediately discovered our phone plan doesn't work.
Balkan Pride season ran from June to Belgrade's march on 5 September. Here is what to read now that the sound systems have been packed away — six ex-Yugoslav queer books you can actually get hold of in translation.
Portugal's longest-running LGBTQ+ film festival returns to Cinema São Jorge from September 18 to 26, opening with Ira Sachs' The Man I Love. Tickets go on sale today.
Tom Thailand 2026 gives masculine-presenting lesbians and trans men a national stage that pageant culture has never made room for — judged on character and conduct, not just appearance.
The Prishtina Queer Festival opens September 6 for its second edition, pairing Kosovar queer film, music, and book launches with a curated slate of Portuguese short films — a small but pointed act of cross-border solidarity.
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.
The annual celebration of lesbian identity and community runs April 20-26 this year, with a focus on health and wellbeing. From its UK origins to events spanning multiple countries, LVW has become the largest dedicated week for lesbian visibility worldwide.
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.
