European Parliament's approval of easier visas to Ukrainians was met with opposition from members (MEPs) over the country's proposed anti-gay laws today (18 April).

A simple majority of politicians voted in favor for this decision in Strasbourg, with an agreement planned to be signed in May.

This month sees the launch of an LGBT Portal for Ukraine, giving the former Soviet country an online hub for LGBT community events, information and activism for the first time.

The website, which is funded by the Elton John AIDS Foundation, is bilingual (English and Russian) and features news, gay travel advice, lifestyle pieces, LGBT rights campaigns, the history of the movement and the science of being gay or trans.

The European Union (EU) was urged to tell the Ukrainian government at the upcoming EU-Ukraine summit to end abuses against LGBT people in Ukraine.

In a letter signed by 22 Ukrainian non governmental organizations (NGOs), and Equal Rights Trust as well as Human Rights Watch, called on the EU to speak out against homophobic bills pending in Ukraine’s parliament and to condemn attacks against LGBT activists.

The summit meeting will be held in Brussels this coming Monday (25 February).

The European Parliament has told Russia and Ukraine to ditch plans to fine and jail people who talk positively about gay issues.

The LGBT ‘gay laws’ already exist in nine regions of Russia but now the Duma parliament is planning countrywide legislation. Similar proposals are also being debated in Ukraine.

The laws are used to ban gay prides, silence gay organizations stop young people being given positive messages about being LGBT, and to crack down on dissidents.

A leading European gay rights group has used international Human Rights Day to condemn gay gag laws now being discussed in Russia, Moldova, Lithuania and Ukraine.

ILGA-Europe says all the planned legislation in Eastern Europe violates basic human rights principles and sees the laws as a new attempt to criminalize lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities.

Known as ‘homosexuality anti-propaganda laws’ they already exist in some states in Russia, most famously in St Petersburg where their introduction this year sparked international outcry.

A right-wing Italian politician and ally of former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi has defended LGBT people’s right to adoption.

Giancarlo Galan from PDL, Popolo delle Libertà, Berlusconi’s party, said: ‘After having seen orphanages in Ukraine and Venezuela, full of children without hope and care, I can say that two fathers or mothers are better than none.’

Interviewed by La7 broadcasting channel, Galan added: ‘I’ll try to make the liberal virus spread over my party.

A Ukrainian extremist nationalist party accused of homophobia has won a record number of votes in the country's parliamentary elections.

Svoboda, whose name means 'freedom' and is linked to France's National Front, the British National Party and Hungary's Jobbik, had taken about 9% of the ballot, early polls showed.

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.

The Ukraine Parliament has voted massively in favor of a new law which would ban ‘propaganda’ about homosexuality.

Within the last hour 289 deputies voted for bill 8711, nobody voted against and just one abstained. Another 60 deputies were absent from the chamber.

The vote today (2 October) had only been announced yesterday, giving LGBT rights campaigners little time to organize against it.

Despite that 20 community activists and campaigners representing various organizations and initiatives gathered to protest against the proposed law.

Adverts featuring a scantily-clad girl posing seductively next to a sleek, sexy car are nothing new. But Toyota's latest commercial in Japan has a surprise in store for viewers.

The 30-second clip shows a blonde, slender girl wearing only a pair of red knickers striding confidently towards a red Auris hatchback.

She then turns to reveal that she is actually a transgender woman.

The model is Stav Strashko, a 19-year-old transgender woman from the Ukraine.

Ukrainian pop star Kamaliya will be performing her new hit single Butterflies at gay pride in Manchester.

Asked why she had chosen to play at the LGBT festival on 27 August, Kamaliya said: 'I am a very active fighter for gay rights in Ukraine, where gays are considered as third category citizens.

'In April this year, I headlined Mr Gay World in South Africa. I have a huge gay following worldwide and I adore my gay fans and friends.’