ROME -- Four women staged a topless demonstration in front of the Pope in St. Peter's Square on Sunday, Jan. 13, protesting the Vatican's anti-gay views.

The protesters from Ukraine-based feminist group FEMEN took off their T-shirts to reveal the slogan "In Gay We Trust" painted on their torsos and yelled "Homophobe, shut up" as the Catholic leader gave a traditional prayer from his window.

The activists were removed by police after sparking anger from pilgrims, reported Reuters.

The Church of England announced Friday it has lifted a ban that prohibited gay male clergy who live with their partners from becoming bishops, on the condition that they remain sexually abstinent.

There was a time, not so long ago, when religion was a unified front against LGBT equality. However, over the years, we have seen that paradigm change. 2012 witnessed religious people and organizations at the forefront of LGBT advancement. This past spring, GLAAD released “Missing Voices” which noted that pro-LGBT religious voices were largely missing in the media, despite significantly increased LGBT inclusion in religious communities. We publically challenged the media to include more pro-LGBT voices of faith.

This week I visited St. Mathew’s Anglican Church in Auckland, New Zealand, where a Christmas poster of a baby Jesus with a rainbow halo has attracted international outrage.

The poster states: “It’s Christmas and time for Jesus to come out.”