Montenegro marches despite church grumblings
Despite the opposition and influence of the Serbian Orthodox Church, hundreds gathered in the Balkan country of Montenegro last Saturday for an LGBTQ Pride march. It was dubbed "No more buts," demanding more efforts to combat hate speech and harassment.

"We have gathered here for the tenth time to show we are human, [that we are] live beings made of flesh and blood, wishes, and dreams, but rejected and ignored, discriminated and trampled upon because of love," said Stasa Bastrica, an activist.

Montenegro has made big strides in LGBTQ rights recently, partly in an effort to secure European Union membership, but it remains a conservative and male-dominated society. The first few Pride marches in the country, held around ten years ago, were met with violence.

The Serbian Orthodox Church in Montenegro held prayers in protest of the event, as it did during the pan-European pride event that took place there last month.

Mexico, Mexico approves same-sex marriage
The legislature of Mexico's most populous state, the State of Mexico, has finally joined 28 other states in the country to recognize same-sex marriages and same-sex common-law marriages. The country is now only three states away from legalizing Gay marriage everywhere.

"Today, by becoming the 29th state to approve equal marriage," said state legislator Paola Jiménez, "we will be reducing inequality, and letting the country know that in the State of Mexico, we do not leave anybody behind."

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, whose home state of Tabasco is one of the three holdouts, has shown little interest in supporting such laws. But along with Brazil and Argentina, Mexico is one of the top three countries in Latin America in the number of same-sex marriages.