Vatican's Anti-Gay Stance Yields Topless Protest

The Vatican is doubling down on its anti-gay marriage stance, which today had the unlikely result of a group of women ripping their shirts off as Pope Benedict gave his Sunday address, reports Reuters. Four members of the Ukrainian Femen group screamed "homophobes, shut up!" and shed their shirts to reveal slogans including "In Gay We Trust," but were quickly carted away by police. The Pope didn't appear to notice. "Today we are here to protest against homophobia," one of the women tells the AP.

The women were responding to a Vatican editorial in response to a gay adoption case. It read: "The human is the masculine and the feminine ... the monogamous family is the ideal place to learn the meaning of human relations and is the environment where the best form of growth is possible." (More Pope Benedict XVI stories.)