Born in rural Minnesota and raised on a dairy farm, I grew up in a devout Catholic family.

While attending St. John's Prep School in Collegeville, I confessed to a priest that I was attracted to another boy who slept across from me. The priest responded that if I ever acted on that, I would go to hell.

Rick Santorum on Wednesday conceded during a CNN Piers Morgan Tonight interview that he believes being gay is a 'sin.'

The 53-year-old candidate for the 2012 GOP presidential nomination has previous said he has gay friends who respect his opinion that marriage should remain a heterosexual union.

The Rev. Tracey Lind, a married lesbian priest, is one of five finalist to become the next bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of New York.

A new poll shows that, perhaps unsurprisingly, young people are far more likely to support gay marriage than older ones. More surprising, however, is that several religious groups are now in support of marriage equality.

Three months after allowing the ordination of openly gay clergy, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) seems headed for a split as nearly 2,000 conservative Presbyterians are gathering in Minneapolis on Thursday and Friday with creation of a “new Reformed body” as an agenda.

Making preparations for the conference is the Rev. Paul Detterman, executive director of Presbyterians for Renewal, an independent organization based in Louisville, Ky., where the denomination’s headquarters are.

“Culture Changers for Jesus Christ”

Look at the face of the religious right’s kinder, gentler, anti-​gay hate: Pastor Jack Hibbs of Calvary Chapel in Chino Hills, California. Pastor Hibbs apparently has made it his mission to stamp out California’s FAIR Education Act, aka SB 48, the new law signed by Governor Jerry Brown just weeks ago that seeks to include gay men, lesbians, bisexual and transgender folks, and the disabled in the public school teachings of history.

His election in 2003 as bishop of New Hampshire for the Episcopal Church threw the Anglican Communion into turmoil. The Christian right talked of fracture. Eight years on however, the Communion remains intact and Gene Robinson continues to be a beacon of hope for the LGBT community. Laurence Watts travelled to New England to talk faith, service and retirement with The Right Reverend Gene Robinson, Bishop of New Hampshire.

Conservatives thought it was the end of the world. For the LGBT faith community it provided hope and much needed affirmation. When Gene Robinson was elected Bishop by the diocese of New Hampshire on June 7th 2003 it made headlines the world over. When ratified he would become the world’s first openly gay priest to be ordained as bishop.

Pope Benedict XVI will get his very own gay show when he arrives in Madrid on Thursday, because hundreds of gay activists are planning a kiss-in to protest the Catholic Church's tenacious homophobic discrimination.

On March 2, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 8 to 1 in favor of the Westboro Baptist Church’s right to freedom of speech. The court said that despite the Topeka, Kansas, church’s contentious behavior — extreme demonstrations against homosexuality, including anti-gay protests at military funerals (picture, left) — such actions are subject to constitutional protections. State legislatures, however, have attempted to pass laws that would undermine the Supreme Court ruling. The latest endeavor can be found in Illinois.

On Sunday, Illinois Governor Pat Quinn signed into law the “Let Them Rest in Peace Act,” which would force anti-gay protests at military funerals to be at least 300 feet — the length of a football field — from military funerals. Additionally, the bill bans protests from taking place 30 minutes before and 30 minutes after funerals.

Eyebrows were raised this week when Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz suddenly and quietly backed out of leadership summit at a suburban Chicago megachurch. Some wondered if Schultz’s move was linked to public outcry over the church’s position on curing homosexuality and their former affiliations with the “ex gay” group Exodus International.