Budapest Pride sweltering hot this year
Reuters reported on July 23 that thousands of people endured temperatures of 104 degrees Fahrenheit to march in Budapest Pride, which was in part a protest against the country's anti-LGBTQ laws.

"I am Queer myself and it's important that we show ourselves, especially in a country where the political sentiment is like this towards LGBTQ people," said one participant.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban gave a speech in Romania the same day, saying that Hungary's greatest challenges were demography, migration, gender politics, and economic problems. Orban's Christian Democrat government has argued that LGBTQ rights should be up to national governments, not the European Commission, whose president has named the anti-LGBTQ laws of Hungary a "disgrace."

Before the Pride event, dozens of embassies in Budapest made a joint statement in support of the LGBTQ community. The U.S. Embassy's statement said, "We express our full support for members of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and Intersex (LGBTQ+) community and their rights to equality and non-discrimination, freedom of expression and peaceful assembly."

Cuban referendum could allow gay marriage, adoption
Reuters reported on July 22 that Cuba's National Assembly has approved an update to its Families Code, which if passed in a referendum vote could pave the way for Gay marriage, adoption of children by same-sex couples, stronger women's rights, and better protections for children, the elderly, and other family members.

Organizers of community meetings said 62% of participants expressed support for the change, a low portion compared to previous amendments, which have garnered up to 96% support.

Opponents of the change include churchgoers like Methodist pastor Henry Nurse, who argued, "What has been happening is sad because it is going to bring confrontation. It goes against what has been taught for many generations of years throughout the world about the true traditional marriage that is between a man and a woman."

Havana couple Ria Acosta Cruz and Gabriela Alfonso, women who have lived together for years but haven't been able to marry or adopt children, said such things are a human right.

"The opportunity it gives us is that of marriage. The fact of being able to opt together for certain things and certain legal procedures that we need as a couple and not as independent people," Alfonso said.

"We are a marriage," Acosta said. "We have the plans together, the economy together. It is not fair that this possibility does not exist."