Religion

Prime Minister Gordon Brown supported the defeat of a California gay marriage ban. Brown called California's Proposition 8 “unacceptable.”

The Downing Street reception was organised to celebrate LGBT History Month attended by prominent gay leaders. This was the first time the LGBT community had been invited to a reception at number 10.

The Labour Party legalized civil partnerships for gay and lesbian couples in 2005. They have also overseen open gay service in the military since 2000.

Read more: Gordon Brown Attacks Homophobic Proposition 8 at LGBT Reception

Fred Phelps and his daughter Shirley Phelps-Roper from the US church which preaches hatred of gays have been banned from entering the UK by Home Secretary Jacqui Smith.

They planned to protests against a play being put on in Hampshire. Queen Mary's College in Basingstoke is staging The Laramie Project. The play is about a man killed for being gay.

The UK Border Agency said it opposed "extremism in all its forms. Both these individuals have engaged in unacceptable behaviour by inciting hatred against a number of communities.

"The government has made it clear it opposes extremism in all its forms. We will continue to stop those who want to spread extremism, hatred and violent messages in our communities from coming to our country. The exclusions policy is targeted at all those who seek to stir up tension and provoke others to violence regardless of their origins and beliefs."

The church's website promoted the picket which was set to take place on Friday, comments inlcuded, "In merry old England they plan to further enrage the living God by putting on the farce known commonly as The Laramie Project. We will picket them, and see if they actually believe those lies they tell about how tolerant and accepting Brits are."

Members of the group based in Topeka, Kansas, have denounced homosexuality for years and have in the past targeted the funerals of Aids victims. In 2007, the church was told to pay $10.9m after its members cheered a soldier's death as "punishment" for US tolerance of homosexuality.

The Pope has caused problems with lesbian and gay campaigners after he declared that saving humanity from homosexual or transsexual behaviour was as important as saving the rainforests from destruction.

He said humanity needed to listen to the "language of creation" to understand the intended roles of man and woman and that behaviour beyond traditional heterosexual relations was a "destruction of God's work".

He called on the Church to protect man from the "destruction of himself" saying that tropical rainforests deserved protection but man as a creature "does not deserve any less".
His remarks, in an end-of-year address to the Curia, the Vatican's central administration, have prompted claims that his speech could be used to justify homophobic attacks.

The Rev Sharon Ferguson, chief executive of the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement, described his remarks as "totally irresponsible and unacceptable in any shape or form".

Read more: Homophobic Pope Comments - Reaction

A press campaign with the headline "The word of God against Sodomy" run by a church and timed to spark a protest against Belfast's Gay Pride parade has been banned for being offensive.

The full-page press ad, which appeared in the Belfast Newsletter, was run by the Sandown Free Presbyterian Church and claimed that the previous year's Gay Pride parade in the city had included a banner stating "Jesus is a fag" and that the church was "obliged under God to publicly challenge the vices of this generation".

Homosexuality is referred to in the ad as an "abomination", "God's judgment upon a sin" and "a cause for regret that a section of the community desire to be known for a perverted form of sexuality".

Read more: Belfast church's anti-gay ad banned

Church of England parishes unhappy at liberal teachings on homosexuality have been urged to seek alternative oversight from another bishop if their own diocesan bishop expounds “unbiblical” teaching from the pulpit.

Evangelicals at a conference in Central London were told that the Church of England now consists of two religions, one liberal and pro-gay and the other conservative and strictly biblical.

The Rev Rod Thomas, the chairman of Reform, the conservative evangelical grouping that represents dozens of Anglican congregations, told parishes that they should go ahead and seek alternative oversight, even if the Church of England fails to accommodate this solution through its General Synod.

Read more: Church goers urged to look elsewhere if they have pro-gay bishop