A photo by Steve Griffin / The Salt Lake Tribune:

As a rainbow appears in the background Jeff Key, of Salt Lake City, proudly holds the flag as advocates for gay marriage rally on Capitol Hill in Salt Lake City after a federal court judge overturned California’s same-sex marriage ban Wednesday. Key asked his husband to remarry him during the rally.

(via sadax on Reddit)

City can’t force owner to remove “to be gay = death” sign

A Wyoming man who has painted “to be gay = death,” on his fence near a high school cannot be forced to remove it, according to city officials.

According to the report by trib.com, the sign is placed where many students walk to high school. Chris Trumbull claims that he painted it there because “because society is not looking at the truth.”

The sign is Trumbull’s interpretation of the Bible passage Leviticus 20:13, which states:

If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They must be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.

After refusing to remove the message when asked, city officials claim that the message is protected speech and there was nothing the city could do to remove it.

(Photo: Dan Cepeda/Star-Tribune)

Supreme Court to rule on anti-gay protests at military funerals

The Supreme Court said on Monday it would decide whether constitutional free-speech rights protected anti-gay protests by members The Westboro Baptist Church at funerals for U.S. military members killed in Iraq.

The justices today said they will hear an appeal from Albert Snyder, who sued and won a $5 million award after his son’s 2006 Maryland funeral was disrupted by protesters led by Fred W. Phelps Sr., a Kansas pastor. A federal appeals court said the award violated the Constitution’s free-speech clause.

Protests launched by Phelps and his congregants have been met with revulsion across the United States and around 40 states have now passed laws regulating demonstrations at funerals.

The case, which the court will consider in its 2010-11 term, is Snyder v. Phelps, 09-751.

(Full story: The Washington Post)

The Sister of Perpetual Indulgence protest outside the Westminster Cathedral in London to show their opposition of the Pope and the Vatican’s influence on European and British politics.

The pope has condemned the UK’s gay equality laws, and has called on priests to debate these laws. The Pope has a planned visit to London in September.

(Photo: Zefrog)

Hundreds Walk Out of Church in Protest of Denying Communion to Homosexuals

Several hundreds activists in the Netherlands have walked out of a Sunday Mass in protest at the Roman Catholic policy that denies gay people communion. Protesters walked out of the church, shouting and singing, wearing pink wigs and clothes.

Despite the Netherlands being the first country to legalize gay marriage in 2001, the Roman Catholic Church teaches that homosexual activity is sinful.

This particular issue began earlier in February when a priest in a nearby town refused communion to an openly gay man.

According to The Associated Press, “the conflict began during Dutch carnival celebrations this month. An openly gay man in a village near Den Bosch was chosen for a prominent role, but his local priest refused him communion - offending many in the village.”

Read the full story at BBC News »

Feb. 4, 2010. Boston, MA. Boston LGBT activists gathered in front of the John F. Kennedy Federal Building to protest American fundamentalists’ homophobic ideology to Africa. The right-wing network so-called “The Family,” which sponsors this morning’s National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, is linked to the Anti-Homosexuality Bill pending in the Ugandan Parliament; a measure which would intensify existing persecution of LGBT people in the East African country.

(Photo: Marilyn Humphries)