Gay Catholic priests looking to meet up for friendship and more now have a place to do it online.

Venerabilis, an unofficial gay dating site targeted for priests and the people who love them, is allegedly based in Vatican City.

Pride parades were held free of violence in the former Yugoslav republics of Slovenia and Croatia yesterday in a growing sign of acceptance of LGBT rights in the region.

Slovenian President Borut Pahor lead the Ljubljana Pride parade where around 600 people marched with the theme ‘Freedom and Solidarity are a Same-Gender Couple.’

Prior to the march organizers released a statement where they urged Slovenians to not let economic woes in Europe push social justice issues off the agenda.

Earlier reports that circulated in Belarus’s media, that plans are afoot in the country's parliament to pass a law that would recriminalize gay sex, were firmly denied.

Montenegro’s Liberal Party has pledged to support full recognition of same-sex couples after meeting with LGBT rights group Queer Montenegro.

Queer Montenegro believes the Liberal Party to the only political party in Montenegro to explicitly support the full protection of LGBT human rights.

Queer Montenegro activists and representatives of the Liberal Party of Montenegro met to discuss the issues facing the LGBT community in Montenegro and upcoming campaigns by the group to promote and protect the human rights of LGBT people.

When I got the opportunity to visit Portugal, thanks to the chic, boutique gay travel firm Further Afield, I did wonder if it would be similar to my many trips to Spain. As well as sharing a border, I thought paella would be the main dish served and palm trees would line the streets.

To my surprise Lisbon offered me much more and it all started when I stepped off the plane.

Nikolai Alekseev, co-founder of Moscow Pride and GayRussia was attacked, as he was about to board a train in Kostroma heading for Moscow, Russia.

Three skinheads dressed in black, wearing white masks that covered their faces, cycled right up to Alekseev, physically and verbally assaulting him, earlier today (5 June).

Alekseev recounted to Gay Star News, while recovering on his train journey: ‘I was about 100 meters from the train station when someone ran into my back with a bicycle.

The ethnic Serb mayor of the Bosnia and Herzegovina city of Prijedor has derided an event marking the 21st anniversary of the mass expulsion of ethnic Croats and Bosnian Muslims from the city – calling it ‘nothing but a gay parade.’

Prijedor was the site of the Prijedor massacre during the Bosnian war, with Serbian forces setting up several concentration camps near the city.

The massacre was the second largest massacre during the Bosnian war after the Srebrenica massacre.

Countries who are highly accepting of gay people, and have very liberal societal attitudes towards homosexuality rank highest in a list of the happiest nations in the world.

The Better Life Index compiled by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) ranks 36 countries according to 11 equally weighted criteria including income levels, health, safety and housing.

A suicidal gay teen’s ‘last letter’ has gotten the attention of prominent Italian politician Laura Boldrini.

According to British newspaper The Independent, Davide Tancredi wrote a letter that was published earlier this week by Italian newspaper La Repubblica.

Tancredi wrote: ‘I am gay, I am 17-years old and this letter is my last alternative to suicide in a troglodyte society; in a world that does not accept me even though I’m born that way.’

Despite a ban, Kyiv had its first gay pride parade.

Approximately 50 people marched today (25 May) in KyivPride-2013. Organized by KyivPride, Amnesty International and numerous European Union embassies and parliaments, the march in the Ukraine capital lasted approximately an hour.

The mayor of Munich, Josef Hep Monatzeder, joined the parade.

Macedonia and Bosnia and Herzegovina have been told they should improve LGBT rights ahed of joining the European Union.

Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) have voted in favour of reports encouraging Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina to enforce legislation defending the rights of LGBT citizens.

The council of Europe demanded that Russia’s LGBT community would be guaranteed the right of expression and demonstrations, as the country continues to clamp down on gay events and rights.

In a press conference held in Moscow today (22 May) Thorbjorn Jagland, secretary-general of the Council of Europe (CoE) delivered a stern message to Russia regarding gay rights.