Twenty-one years ago, Scott Anderson had a choice. He could continue to serve as a Presbyterian minister but hide his identity as a gay man. Or he could leave the ministry and live, as he says, "with a sense of integrity" about who he is.

Anderson left the ministry in 1990, believing that door would never open to him again. Now it has.

A gay Tennessee couple allege that they were beaten as they tried to attend services at Grace Fellowship Church in Fruitland — and that the assault was prompted by the father of one of them, who happens to be church’s pastor.

As the battle over same-sex marriage continues to cause tensions around the country, a group of ministers and their supporters are launching a protest Monday afternoon in favor of marriage equality in North Carolina.

Early on in life, Mitch Mayne knew exactly who he was.

He would race home from school to watch reruns of “Star Trek” and swoon over his crush, Captain Kirk. At 8, after his parents converted, he was baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a faith he embraced. Even after he drifted away from the LDS Church following his parents’ divorce, he came back to Mormonism on his own in his mid-20s.

An openly gay minister in the Church of Scotland has backed calls for marriage equality.

The Rev Scott Rennie, whose 2009 appointment threatened to split the church, said the change should be “celebrated”.

Pope Benedict on Saturday met with Orthodox Christians during a tour stop in Freiburg, Germany, the AP reported.

Rev Richard Coles found fame in the Communards – then found religion. He tells Jon Henley about life as an out vicar and in-demand broadcaster

Twenty-five years ago this month, No 1 in the UK singles chart was Don't Leave Me This Way, an energetic rendering of the Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes soul classic by gay 80s synthpop duo the Communards. Remember them? A small, bouncy one and a tall, speccy one.

The nation's top Catholic bishop issued a stern challenge to the Obama administration's decision not to support a federal ban on gay marriage, and warned the president that his policies could "precipitate a national conflict between church and state of enormous proportions."

In a letter sent Tuesday (Sept. 20), Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York, who heads the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said he and other prelates have grown increasingly concerned since the administration announced last February that it would no longer defend the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act in court.

In August, fundamentalist preacher Dr. Michael Brown organized a regimen of red-shirted Bible-thumpers to infiltrate Charlotte's gay pride event. Hundreds of zealots confronted and harassed festival attendees with their arrogant slogan: "God Has A Better Way."

The hatred and religious bigotry was appalling, but not surprising. What truly bothers me, however, was the lack of mainstream Christians standing up and speaking out against such fanatical behavior. Virtually every time I write about the Religious Right I'm reminded by the faithful that "not all Christians are like that."

The following is part one of our mini-series on Scientology's long-time stance against homosexuality, its discriminatory practices against gays within its ranks, and how founder L. Ron Hubbard's own early sexual "experiences" may have unduly affected his view on homosexuality.

Objection and Defection

Paul Haggis' (two-time Oscar-winning writer/director) now well-publicized defection from the Church of Scientology came about for numerous reasons.