Less than three weeks before it joins the European Union, Croatia is facing calls for a referendum that could rule out same-sex marriages in the largely Catholic nation, where conservatism appears to be on the rise. Last month almost one-fifth of Croatia's population signed a petition launched by a Catholic Church-backed group calling for a referendum on whether to introduce a constitutional clause defining marriage as a "union of a woman and a man".

Some 400 people took to the streets of Bucharest for a Gay Pride parade on Saturday but a controversial amendment to the constitution banning same-sex marriage overshadowed the event. "It is a sadder parade because of the amendment", Accept president Florin Buhuceanu told AFP, while lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) activists and sympathisers waved rainbow flags in downtown Bucharest. Romanian lawmakers are discussing a constitutional amendment restricting the legal definition of marriage to a "union between a man and a woman".

Around a hundred gay rights activists marched in Ukraine on Saturday despite fears of violence, marking the first gay pride event in the ex-Soviet country, where homophobia is widespread and socially accepted. "This can be considered a historic day," Elena Semyonova, a representative of the organisers, said after the event. "We felt like we were full-fledged citizens whose rights are respected," she told AFP. The march went ahead despite strong public resistance.

MOSCOW (Reuters) - The head of the Council of Europe demanded on Wednesday that Russia allow gay rallies, weighing in on what has become an increasingly divisive issue since Vladimir Putin returned to the presidency. As support for same-sex marriage increases in the West, Russia's gays say they face shrinking freedoms and rising violence, and Russian lawmakers are considering a law that would ban gay "propaganda" around minors.