The last time I met up with Irshad Manji, she was on the promotional tour for her 2004 book, The Trouble with Islam Today. And because of the attention that tome was bringing her – including a large number of death threats – that she was accompanied by a husky bodyguard.

But for all the negative feedback, Manji’s book certainly brought her a degree of celebrity. Oprah gave her a Chutzpah Award. The New York Times declared Manji “Osama bin Laden’s worst nightmare.” She penned op ed pieces for The New York Times, The Advocate and The Wall Street Journal. She was invited to teach at Yale, and then, subsequently, has become the inaugural director of the Moral Courage Project at New York University.

The Presbyterian Church of Ghana, concerned about “the spread” of homosexuality in the nation, is stepping up its promotion of the widely discredited practice of so-called reparative therapy, aimed at converting gay people to straight.

Malaysia's only openly gay pastor is urging homosexuals in the mainly Muslim country to "keep coming out" to help battle homophobia, as he gets set to tie the knot with his American partner.

Reverend Ouyang Wen Feng is a highly controversial figure who faced outrage and threats when he opened in 2007 the first gay-friendly church in conservative Malaysia, where sexual identity is a hot-button topic.

When King Pekah ruled the northern kingdom of Israel, the Assyrians invaded, occupied its cities and took its people “captive to Assyria.” (2 Kings 15:29.) Adding insult to grievous injury, the Assyrians later demanded of Hezekiah, ruler of the southern kingdom of Judah, a payment so large that he had to “cut off the gold from the doors” and doorposts of the first temple in Jerusalem. (2 Kings 18:16.)

Put another way: Assyrians were no friends of the Jews. They are not, therefore, the likeliest of people to be ornamenting a synagogue.

Anti-gay Westboro Baptist Church has announced plans to picket in Edinburgh and Aberdeen at the end of October.

The church, which is based in Kansas, intends to picket at talks concerning the ordination of openly gay clergy within the Church of Scotland.

What in the world was NPR doing presenting a story about gay conversion programs as a "health"-related feature?

And why in the world did NPR cut the fact that the protagonist of the story—ex-gay life coach Rich Wyler—is Mormon, calling him a "conservative Christian" instead?

A ministry for gay men and women operated by a northern Mexican diocese has come under scrutiny from the Vatican and might revert to its original status as an unaffiliated nonprofit organization.

Bishop Raul Vera Lopez of Saltillo told Catholic News Service July 31 that he is responding to questions from the Vatican about Comunidad San Aelredo, which began as a youth group for gay Catholics and recently became a diocesan ministry.

In early July, Archbishop Jose H. Gomez of Los Angeles opposed a modest piece of legislation that requires schools in that state to include lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgender people, and other previously excluded groups, in their social studies curricula.

The archbishop argued that he was merely supporting parents’ rights to make decisions regarding their children’s education. But Catholics who pay attention to our bishops’ energetic campaign to thwart any legislation that legitimizes (or in this instance, even recognizes) same-gender attraction are familiar with this ruse.

Twenty-one years after leaving the Presbyterian pulpit because he is gay, Scott Anderson, executive director of the Wisconsin Council of Churches, has been cleared to return to ministry, the church's highest court ruled in a decision made public Tuesday.

When Mark Rowe-Barth got married last summer, he scheduled the ceremony outside his church.

Rowe-Barth, 33, is a United Methodist. He also is gay.