H.R. 5 would amend the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity in employment, housing, public accommodations, public education, federal funding, the credit system and jury duty.

My belief in the sanctity of human life was supported by my own struggle to accept myself as a gay person.

The wide-ranging nondiscrimination executive “threatens to infringe the rights of people who recognize the truth of sexual difference or who uphold the institution of lifelong marriage between one man and one woman,” said the chairmen of five U.S. bishops’ committees.

A group of U.S. Catholic bishops, including a cardinal and an archbishop, have signed a statement of support for L.G.B.T. youth, telling them, “God created you, God loves you and God is on your side.”

The activists could face up to two years in prison if convicted on charges of offending religious sentiment and desecration of Poland's most-revered icon.

The head of the German bishops’ conference called for far-reaching changes to the Catholic Church and criticized the Vatican’s treatment of the church in his country.