STOCKHOLM, August 2, 2008 (AFP) - Hundreds of thousands of people braved pouring rain in Stockholm Saturday to watch or participate in this year's colourful EuroPride parade to protest discrimination against homosexuals.

NEW YORK, July 31, 2008 (AFP) - Massachusetts on Thursday opened the door for gay couples from across the country to marry in the northeastern state.

Governor Deval Patrick signed a bill with immediate effect allowing homosexual non-residents to tie the knot there, circumventing bans in their own states.

STOCKHOLM, July 31, 2008 (AFP) - Two new publishing houses for children's books have sparked debate in gender-equal Sweden over their professed aim of instilling the country's open-minded social values in the next generation.

STOCKHOLM, July 28, 2008 (AFP) - A male gay couple were stabbed and robbed during Stockholm's EuroPride festival in what police described Monday as a hate crime.

KUALA LUMPUR, July 28, 2008 (AFP) - Four transvestites arrested in a raid on a beauty pageant have appealed a one-week jail sentence imposed by a Malaysian Islamic court for dressing as women, an official said Monday.

KUALA LUMPUR, July 27, 2008 (AFP) - Islamic officials in Malaysia detained 16 transvestites for taking part in a beauty pageant, according to a newspaper report here Sunday.

SYDNEY, July 24, 2008 (AFP) - A lesbian couple in Australia failed on Thursday in a bid to sue their doctor after one of them gave birth to twins rather than one baby following fertility treatment.

BARCELONA, July 23, 2008 (AFP) - More than 5,000 athletes, gay and straight, from across Europe are converging on Barcelona for the Eurogames which get underway on Thursday in the Spanish port city, organisers said.

ATHENS, July 22, 2008 (AFP) - An Athens court on Tuesday rejected a complaint by inhabitants of the Greek island of Lesbos who had wanted gay women to stop monopolising the term 'lesbian', a justice source said.

VIENNA, July 12, 2008 (AFP) - About 120,000 people in colourful and often scanty dress took part in Vienna's annual Rainbow Parade on Saturday to call for equal rights for gays and lesbians, organisers said.