Gangs of floating homos invaded Amsterdam's famed canals for the gay pride drift this weekend:

Organisers of Amsterdam's 13th annual Gay Pride festival which ended on Sunday said the annual canal parade on Saturday drew a record crowd of more than 500,000… According to the paper, "80 boats full of partying homosexuals" took part, including a police boat and a government boat…

Uniformed seamen also took part, a first.

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Talk about cojones!

Spanish social conservatives have filed a lawsuit against Madrid Pride for - get this - hate speech. HazteOir claims that pride organizers and other revelers smeared the Catholic Church's good name by holding up a sign calling Pope Benedict XVI "chief of the inquisitors." Benedict, of course, often rails against gay rights. Should we sue him for hate speech?

As if their lawsuit's not laughable enough, HazteOir claims their fight's for the greater good:

From both humanitarian and Christian concepts of society, only by protecting values such as liberty, justice and solidarity can citizens retain their rights and dignity," HazteOir states on its website.

Our projects are aimed to promote political participation, human dignity and the value and integrity of human life.

How do you say bullshit in Spanish?

Rumor has it Madrid's gay pride tops all others. Thus, in an effort to uncover the truth, Queerty contributor Jimmy Im traveled to the Spanish city for a full investigation.

Check out the blow-by-blow, after the jump…

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Hungary's under fire after last weekend's deplorable gay pride attacks.

Those attacks, sparked by right wing extremists, garnered ire from the European Parliament's gay intergroup, who have pledged to bring Hungary before the European Commission.

While most governments would simply claim they couldn't control the masses, Hungarian state secretary yesterday admitted that the secret service knew who would instigate the attacks, yet did nothing to protect their gay citizens. Nice!

Meanwhile, Hungarian Member of European Parliament Katalin Lévai, whose car was attacked during the near riot, also vowed to right the right's wrongs…

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Maria Passannante Derr, a community activist who is running for City Council out of NYC District 3, offers her thoughts on gay pride, civil rights in New York and how she would use her powers for homo good - after the jump, of course…

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Celebration turned into chaos at Budapest's gay pride Saturday. At least ten people were hurt and forty-five arrested after gay activists and right wing haters came together on the Hungarian town's historic streets.

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Mayor Boris Johnson channeled Brokeback at this weekend's gay pride march in London. While most politicians garner praise for their pride appearances, Johnson suffered some mixed reviews:

Johnson sported a pink cowboy hat as he led a Gay Pride parade through London, drawing boos along the way from some who remembered his past doubts about civil partnerships.

But others at Saturday's annual march say they are reserving judgment, to see what Johnson does as mayor.

Johnson's dubious gay politics included comments worrying that gay unions would lead to polygamy and bestial nuptials. Wrote Johnson, 'I saw no reason in principle why a union should not be consecrated between three men, as well as two men, or indeed three men and a dog." Those comments came seven years ago and gay activists, like Ben Summerskill of UK's Stonewall, suggest that Johnson's adapting to the times.

Besides, he's only been mayor since May, so the homos should give him a shot.

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Budapest's gays are going to have a complicated pride. Not only are they currently fearing for their lives after two bomb attacks, but revelers will now have to contend with anti-gay activists, who have been given a permit to march alongside the pride parade.

Far-right activists György Budaházy and László Toroczkai made an online appeal on kuruc.info for "Hungarian patriots" to go to Oktogon in Budapest on 5 July to demonstrate against this year's gay pride event.

"We will not tolerate foreign perverts of whatever colour forcing their alien and sick world onto Hungary," they wrote on the website.

The Rendszerváltó Fórum (System Change Forum) has been given permission to demonstrate on the same day and along the same route as the Gay Pride parade.
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On its website the organisation says that it is organising a parade of what it describes as "healthy and morally acceptable people" to show that Hungary's future is secured by "productive pair relationships, reproducing and well-functioning families".

Budapest Police spokeswoman Éva Tafferner said that the police will do everything in its power to prevent attacks on homosexuals and clashes between demonstrators and counter-demonstrators.

Somehow we doubt that…

Because there's no such thing as too much pride - except for hubris - here are some shots from yesterday's march here in New York City. We're absolutely in love with the snap of Mayor Michael Bloomberg waving his rainbow flag. So cute!

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Canada's queer soldiers certainly had something to celebrate this weekend. Though pride has been happening for over thirty years, this weekend's festivities marked the first time Canada's Armed Services were allowed to march in uniform. And, not surprisingly, the same-sex loving soldiers were thrilled to itty-bits:

"It's a huge thing for me personally," said Warrant Officer John McDougall, a parade participant who has been an openly gay member of the military for 13 years. "To be able to be in public and be recognized not just for being a soldier, but for being a soldier who happens to be gay is amazing."
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Toronto Pride Executive director Fatima Amarshi said that the Armed Forces initiated their participation in the parade.

"We're all familiar with stories of lesbians and gays in the military and the struggle that they've had," she said. "So for the military to turn around and recognize its soldiers, the diversity within its ranks and the need to have a presence at Pride means a tremendous amount."

The American military could learn a thing or two from its neighbors to the north.

India's gays made quite a statement this weekend. Though homos have previously put on pride parades in Calcutta, the festivities stretched across the nation in the biggest gay outing in India's history this weekend:

Waving rainbow flags and chanting "Gay India does exist," nearly 1,000 gay activists and their supporters marched in coordinated parades in three Indian cities Sunday, demonstrating their growing confidence and hope for change on a subcontinent where homosexuality is illegal.

Activists in New Delhi, Bangalore and Kolkata called the parades the largest display of gay pride in India's modern history. They said the public rallies would have been impossible just a decade ago in this largely conservative nation, where marriage is seen as an important societal duty.

Most of the marchers came out to oppose Section 377, the colonial era law prohibiting gay activities. While most political leaders oppose opening the laws for the lavender set, none actively protested this weekend's happenings, saying they didn't want to give the gays too much attention. Ain't that grand?