On Aug. 1, a joint Catholic funeral was held in Novara, Italy (near Milan), for couple and Barbie-doll designers Mario Paglino and Gianni Grossi, who perished together in a car crash—but their personal bond was not acknowledged, according to New Ways Ministry. Despite the public nature of their relationship and their deep connection to the local community, the priest, Don Renzo Cozzi, avoided referring to them as a couple during the homily; instead, he consistently used the word “friends.” Some attendees approached the priest at the end of the Mass to stress that calling Paglino and Grossi “friends” means erasing a lifelong love and partnership. In an interview with the Italian newspaper La Stampa, Don Renzo Cozzi said, “I didn’t want the funeral of these two men to turn into a gay celebration. The Church doesn’t allow it.”
Members of Nepal’s LGBTQ+ community and allies rallied in the capital of Kathmandu in the annual pride rally—the first since a major cut in funding after the U.S. government ceased financial aid, The Seattle Times noted. Hundreds of people took part in the rally, playing music and dancing in the Gai Jatra festival. The event remembers family members who have passed away during the year; however, it has long drawn colorful parades by bringing in sexual minorities to join in on the festivities. Nepal’s LGBTQ+ campaign has been hit after U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration began dismantling the U.S. Agency for International Development, which was responsible for humanitarian aid.
On Aug. 2, the U.S. Senate confirmed that Brian Burch—the co-founder of an anti-LGBTQ+ religious group CatholicVote—will become the next U.S. ambassador to the Vatican, per Watermark OUT News. The legislators confirmed Burch (a resident of the suburbs of Chicago) 49-44. Burch sharply criticized Pope Francis’ 2023 decision to allow priests to bless same-sex couples. Pope Leo XIV, in May, reaffirmed Vatican doctrine that says marriage is between a man and a woman; however, he also said that priests can continue to bless same-sex couples.
In Hungary, Budapest Mayor Gergely Karacsony was questioned by police as a suspect in helping to organize a banned LGBTQ+ march in the city, the BBC reported. The event took place on June 28 despite warnings of potential legal ramifications by Prime Minister Viktor Orban, whose government passed a law earlier this year banning the march. Wearing a rainbow T-shirt featuring the capital’s coat of arms, Karacsony, who appeared at Hungary’s National Bureau of Investigation, told supporters, “Neither freedom nor love can be banned in Budapest.” If charged and convicted, Karacsony could face up to a year in prison for organizing and encouraging participation in a banned march.
The National Catholic Register noted that German bishops are divided sharply over implementing blessing guidelines for same-sex couples. A comprehensive survey by katholisch.de revealed stark divisions across the country’s 27 dioceses. Five dioceses—Cologne, Augsburg, Eichstätt, Passau and Regensburg—have refused to implement the guidelines; 11 dioceses have either officially endorsed or at least maintain pastoral practices aligned with the non-binding guidelines titled “Segen gibt der Liebe Kraft” (“Blessings Give Strength to Love”); and another 11 have adopted various middle positions. The Bavarian Diocese of Augsburg criticized, among other things, that the German handout explicitly speaks of “blessing celebrations” and that it intends to evaluate experiences with such blessings.
The U.S. State Department is redoing its human-rights reports on other countries, omitting anti-LGBTQ+ persecution, gender-based crimes, and other information the reports included in the past, per The Advocate, citing The Washington Post. Leaked report drafts involving El Salvador, Israel, and Russia “strike all references to LGBTQ+ individuals or crimes against them, and the descriptions of government abuses that do remain have been softened,” the Post reported. Former State Department official Keifer Buckingham criticized Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who had praised the department’s human-rights reports when he was a senator, saying, “Secretary Rubio has repeatedly asserted that his State Department has not abandoned human rights, but it is clear by this and other actions that this administration only cares about the human rights of some people … in some countries, when it’s convenient to them.”
The popular UK LGBTQ+ event known as FrightFest 2025 is returning to The Odeon LUXE Leicester Square on Aug. 21-25, per a press release. FrightFest will showcase 69 features from across the world, running 25 main screen premieres and 44 Discovery Screen titles. From Australia, FrightFest will welcome back transgender filmmaker Alice Maio Mackay, who brings The Serpent’s Skin. Also, the work of veteran Belgian filmmaker Harry Kümel will be celebrated with 4K restorations of two films from 1971—his erotic vampire tale Daughters of Darkness; and Malpertuis, a surreal gothic tale of warlocks and imprisoned Olympian gods. Another eagerly awaited work is Andreas Zerr’s Sanity Inside Insanity: The Rocky Horror Phenomenon; this year marks the 50th anniversary of The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
Approximately 80 colorful pride boats sailed through Amsterdam’s World Heritage canals recently in the finale of a week-long celebration in the city, Reuters noted. While the boat parade was not political, attendees used the occasion to criticize conflicts or world leaders for their positions on LGBTQ+ rights. Palestinian flags were spotted among the crowd of revelers, and Dutch police arrested four activists who jumped in the water to vandalize the Booking.com boat to protest its listings in settlements in Israeli-occupied territories. Others criticized U.S. President Donald Trump, whose administration implemented anti-trans policies and cut funding for international aid programs, harming HIV-prevention efforts in Africa.
The United Kingdom’s Polari Prize program has released its 2025 lists of LGBTQ+ books, per Publishing Perspectives. Main prize entries include Nude Against a Rock, by Robert Hamberger; Pity, by Andrew McMillan; 3,000 Lesbians Go to York, by Jane Traies; and Earth, by John Boyne, among others. First Book nods go to Mongrel, by Hanako Footman; Queer as Folklore, by Sacha Coward; and Unsuitable: A History of Lesbian Fashion by Eleanor Medhurst, among others. Winners will be named Nov. 27, after shortlists are revealed in September. The main Polari Prize and the Polari First Book Prize for a debut publication are annual; children’s and young-adult prizes were inaugurated in 2023, with honors handed out every three years.
Steam and Itch.io—two of the largest marketplaces for games and visual novels on the internet—have removed thousands of LGBTQ+ and “not safe for work” (NSFW) titles in response to pressure from payment processors and an Australian “anti-pornography” group with ties to the religious right, per Them. The organization Collective Shout published an open letter calling on payment processors such as Visa, Mastercard, Discover and PayPal to “immediately” cut ties with Steam and Itch, claiming both platforms were selling “hundreds” of titles “featuring rape, incest and child sexual abuse.” “Our actions were taken to protect our payment processing abilities for as much of the platform as possible,” Itch founder Leaf Corcoran wrote in response to vocal backlash on social media.
R. Mukami Kariuki—the World Bank’s outgoing country manager for Uganda—explained in an interview published by New Vision why the Bank has renewed relations with the Ugandan government after a two-year lending freeze on new projects imposed over the enacting of the 2023 Anti-Homosexuality Act (AHA), Erasing 76 Crimes noted. Kariuki said the freeze implemented in August 2023 was never about repealing the AHA but was aimed at giving the bank time to engage the authorities and come up with mitigation measures that would facilitate the resumption of financial projects. Kariuki said, in part, “All Ugandans must benefit from the financing we provide. So we worked with the government, development partners, civil society and the private sector to identify what needs to be done to make it possible for us to continue.”
England’s Premier League will not activate Stonewall’s Rainbow Laces campaign in the 2025-26 pro soccer season, having decided to launch its own LGBTQ+ inclusion initiative instead, Outsports noted. Since 2014—the year after Rainbow Laces began as a way for soccer players to show allyship toward teammates who might be gay or bi—English soccer’s elite men’s competition has supported an annual campaign activation, usually held in November and December. However, the Premier League now plans to align with the UK’s LGBT+ History Month of February, which is also the annual Month of Action for the “Football v. Homophobia” campaign.
A woman was arrested for armed aggression after police said she threw a “container containing a liquid” at participants of the Montreal Pride Parade, per The Montreal Gazette. A participant said the woman targeted members of two Jewish groups marching in the parade: Ga’ava and the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, adding that the liquid she threw “smelled like urine.” Fierté Montréal, which organizes the event, had initially taken Ga’ava and CIJA off the roster, accusing the groups of “spreading hateful discourse”—but the organizers reversed their decision days later, following criticism that included a letter signed by five members of Parliament.
Scientists at Japan’s Kumamoto University discovered a genetic “silencer” within the HTLV-1 virus (connected to leukemia) that helps it stay hidden in the body, evading the immune system for decades, per ScienceDaily. This silencer element basically turns the virus off, preventing it from triggering symptoms in most carriers. Interestingly, when this silencer was added to HIV, it made that virus less active as well—hinting at a revolutionary new strategy for managing not just HTLV-1 but other deadly retroviruses as well. Their findings were initially published on May 13, 2025, in Nature Microbiology.
Non-binary Australian influencer Kath Ebbs confirmed they have a new partner after splitting up from JoJo Siwa, per PinkNews. “The rumours are true! YES I still (stupidly) believe in love!!,” Ebbs captioned photos of them with Australian soccer player Tilly Lucas-Rodd. Lucas-Rodd—who is also non-binary and uses they/them pronouns—commented, “Thanks for sliding in (sorry for making you wait 2 years).” Ebbs alleged that Siwa “dumped” them at the Celebrity Big Brother after-party. “I was told that there are confused feelings there, and that they had realized in the house that I wasn’t the person that they wanted to spend the foreseeable [future],” Ebbs said at the time.
Actor and LGBTQ+ ally Colin Farrell will be honored with the Zurich Film Festival’s Golden Icon Award, Deadline noted. The event is slated to run Sept. 25-Oct. 5, and the award acknowledges the actor’s performance in Edward Berger’s psychological thriller Ballad of a Small Player as well as his overall career. The Oscar nominee will be presented with the award on Sept. 27 ahead of a gala premiere for the upcoming film, which will also be attended by Swiss director and Oscar winner Berger; the following day, Farrell will provide a masterclass on his career.
Out actor Stephen Fry is narrating a documentary about the London district of Soho and its future, per Deadline. This Is Soho will delve into the heart of the legendary district, speaking with drag queens, pub landlords and local legends, among others. The doc comes with Soho “at a crossroads,” the production’s team said, with rising rents, the rapid closure of iconic institutions and changes brought about by commercialization. The film will be showcased at MIPCOM 2025, with a theatrical rollout and festival circuit being planned for later this year.
On Sept. 12, NYC’s Film Forum will present the U.S. theatrical premiere of Dreams—part of Norwegian novelist/filmmaker Dag Johan Haugerud’s LOVE – SEX – DREAMS: THE OSLO TRILOGY, a press release noted. “In this third installment of the trilogy, 17-year-old Johanne drifts and daydreams like any teenager, until one day her restlessness morphs into all-consuming passion for her charismatic French teacher, Johanna,” the release stated. Dreams had its world premiere at the 2025 Berlin International Film Festival, where it was awarded the highest prize, the Golden Bear; in doing so, it became the first Norwegian film to win the honor.
England’s Prince Andrew is the subject of a new book that covers, among other things, his alleged sex romps to his ill-advised friendship with Jeffrey Epstein, according to Page Six. Andrew Lownie wrote Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York, which covers the royal’s jet-set lifestyle and relationship with his ex, Sarah Ferguson. Lownie penned that Epstein—the late financier and convicted child sex offender—had “16 telephone numbers” for Andrew and the two met “almost a decade earlier” than 1999, when the prince had claimed they first met; the author also has claimed that Ferguson was close to Epstein. The Duke has admitted helping arrange for Epstein to pay off $20,000 of Ferguson’s “ever-present” debts; however, Lownie has disputed the amount, saying it was closer to $2 million.