The gay rights agenda has won the day in most European nations.In fact, just calling homosexuality abnormal can now be considered hate speech.
But in Italy, the battle for gay rights is still raging, and it's turning into a showdown between the government and the Pope.
Hundreds of thousands of Italians packed a Rome piazza in May to protest a government bill that would give many legal rights to unmarried couples, including homosexual partners.
For more on this story, watch Pat Robertson's interview with Letizia Moratti, the mayor of Milan, Italy.
Prime Minister Romano Prodi's government proposed allowing the civil unions. But the planned law, which would also give unmarried heterosexual couples legal standing, has run into strong opposition from conservatives and pro-family Catholics in parliament.
The issue has even led to death threats against Italian archbishop Angelo Bagnasco, after he spoke out against same-sex unions. The cleric received bullets in the mail.
The Vatican has weighed in against what it calls the hedonism of society, with marriage and the family under attack.
The pope's opposition to the proposed law has made him the target of hate.
And an Italian archbishop, Angelo Bagnasco, has received death threats.
Homosexuals continue to demonstrate across Europe, urging the Italian government, which under Prodi has helped sponsor gay pride events, to make the bill law.
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