Finnish nationalist leader Jussi Halla-aho has argued that legal and economic sanctions for merely expressing one’s opinion have become more common, calling for laws to bolster the freedom of expression. MEP Jussi Halla-aho, freshly re-relected for a second two-year term as chair of the nationalist Finns Party, has outlined his policy goals in an address to a party congress in Tampere. In his... 

Over 80,000 people in southern Germany have signed an online petition against a plan to teach children about LGBT lifestyles in school – an initiative put forward to promote tolerance towards sexual minorities. A new education plan, which should come into force in 2015, has sparked a bitter dispute in the state of Baden-Württemberg in the southwest of the country. Thousands of parents and teachers... 

Moscow city court has upheld a decision to turn down the LGBT activists’ request for permission to hold gay pride parades for the next 100 years. Earlier, Tverskoy district court ruled lawful the decision of the Moscow municipal government to ban public events that can be qualified as gay parades from March 2012 till May 2112. Nikolay Alekseyev, one of the leaders of the Russian LGBT community and... 

Russia has disassociated itself from the language used in a statement on fundamental human rights and freedoms by the G8 Foreign Ministers Meeting Chair, as the document listed both gays and bisexuals as separate groups. Foreign Ministry spokesman Sergey Ryabkov told reporters that Russia considers inadmissible any aggressive propaganda and imposing of ways of life and values that could insult the... 

Policemen detain a gay rights activist during an unsanctioned Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Pride Parade in the capital Minsk Belarusian police have violently dispersed a gay pride parade banned by authorities. Riot police on Saturday broke up the demonstration and arrested several dozen participants, beating some of them and throwing them on the ground. The organizers said that their goal was to attract...