Americans are gung-ho for Pope Francis' U.S. visit — if they know he's coming. But most Americans (52 percent) and nearly a third of Catholics (31 percent) say they hadn't heard about the pope's September visit to Philadelphia, New York City and Washington, D.C., according to a new survey released Tuesday by the Public Religion Research Institute in partnership with Religion News Service.

Obama’s decision to address gay rights in Africa is a political “tightrope,” Downie said, as the U.S. president balances his administration’s human rights values with lingering sensitivities about Western countries’ colonialist approaches on the continent.

“The E.U. has helped. Latvians want to fit in,” said a Latvian gay rights activist who helped organize this year’s parade.The tug-of-war over gay rights has taken on special significance after a recent string of U.S. court decisions upholding gay marriage. Caitlyn Jenner’s very public transition from her old life as Bruce, meanwhile, has thrown a spotlight on transgender issues and acceptance.

Nearly a decade before the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that U.S. laws which criminalize “homosexual conduct” are unconstitutional in the 2003 case Lawrence v. Texas, a gay Cuban man won protection in the United States from the persecution he faced in his native land because of his sexual orientation. It was the first time that persecution based on sexual orientation was established as valid grounds for asylum in the United States.