The second International Intersex Forum ended on Tuesday in Stockhom, Sweden.

The forum, part of an International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA) conference, saw 37 activists from 33 organizations extend the demands agreed at last year's first meeting.

As well as ending discrimination against intersex people and ensuring 'the right of bodily integrity and self-determination', the group agreed to a list of demands mostly aimed at the medical community.

France's President François Hollande has done a U-turn over plans to give mayors' the right to opt out of performing gay marriages.

The socialist leader flip-flopped on Tuesday's announcement that the equal marriage law should respect mayors' 'freedom of conscience' after pressure from campaigners.

A gay Turkish prisoner who was put in solitary confinement after complaining about bullying from inmates has won his case against the Turkish government in the European Court of Human Rights.

The prisoner, named X in court papers, turned himself in for fraud-related offences in Izmir in October 2008. He was kept in pre-trial detention until February 2009 when he complained that he was being threatened and harassed by fellow detainees because of his sexuality.

The head of Macedonia’s only existing LGBT rights group, was severly attacked on Sunday (21 October) by two unidentified men in the country’s capita Skopje.

The Facebook page of the group reported that as AS (initials used to protect his identity) was on his way to his home around 9pm, he heard ‘shouts and insults such as 'Fag', 'Homo', 'You are all going to die’ directed at him.

Foreign ministers could punish Ukraine for voting for a new law to ban ‘homosexual propaganda’ by not allowing it visa-free access to Europe.

GSN broke the news that the Ukrainian Parliament had pushed forward the bill, number 8711, with a landslide vote yesterday.

If it is passed, the new law would give up to five years jail to people importing, producing or spreading positive messages about lesbians, gays and bisexuals.

South Africa and Brazil have told the United Nations they want more action on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights.

The statement was delivered yesterday (2 July) to the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva by the ambassador of South Africa on behalf of both countries.

The statement demanded further discussion and work on the issue of violence against LGBT people and said gay and trans rights are part and parcel of the universal declaration of human rights.

Protesters in Brussels called for the Ukranian parliament to reject a bill which bans 'homosexual propaganda' today (2 July).

Campaigners from ILGA-Europe picketed the country's Ukrainian Mission to the European Union after lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender organizations in the Ukraine appealed to the international community to put pressure on politicians to stop the homophobic proposals.

The bill, similar to the one passed in St Petersburg, is due to enter its third and final reading in parliament this week.

When I stayed in Chile for four weeks in 2005, I experienced funny looks and taunting.

Discrimination there didn't come to me because I was gay, but because I was half-Peruvian.

The two countries have a strained diplomatic relationship over national borders that dates back to the late 1800s, and is still evident in some Peru-Chile relations.

Despite a historical animosity, civil society organizations from both countries are now joined in the same fight for marriage equality and protection against discrimination.

Activists from around the world will come together for an international conference on LGBT rights in Stockholm, Sweden.

Around 1,000 people have been invited to the 26th ILGA World Conference, which runs from 10 to 16 December.

This year's theme will be 'Global Rights, Global Respect' and the event will celebrate important events of the last year, including the UN Human Rights Council's historic summit on LGBT rights in March, as well as feature discussions on current and future challenges in the fight for equality.

For an Italian gay man, finding a job is harder than ever. A study by the Fondazione Rodolfo De Benedetti shows that it is 30% more difficult for an openly gay man to find a job.

The Milan-based institute of research, directed by Tito Boeri, sent companies 3,000 fake CV and cover letters. Those indicating an internship at Arcigay, Italy’s main LGBT association, were less successful and did not lead to an interview.

The study also showed that, for a lesbian, nothing changes and the rate of successful interviews is not lower than that of straight women.

Moldova adopted a new equality law today but it has left lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender citizens still at the bottom of the pecking order.

Although the law is a positive step forward towards equality, international LGBT rights group, ILGA-Europe, is highly concerned sexual orientation is not explicitly mentioned in the list of grounds of discrimination covered by the law, apart from in relation to discrimination in the workplace.

This lack of clarity leaves members of Moldova’s LGBT community at risk of discrimination in other arenas.