True colors: Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people and their allies are taking to the streets around the world. In the past month, gay pride parades have brightened streets with rainbow flags in countries across four continents. Above, two Israeli lesbians kiss in front of a rainbow-striped backdrop during the annual gay pride parade in Tel Aviv on June 12.

Taking to the streets: In what is believed to be the world's biggest gay pride parade ever, some 3 million people gathered for a carnival-like event in the area around Sao Paulo's Paulista Avenue on June 14. It was the 13th year of the parade, which made it into the Guinness Book of World Records after 2.5 million attended in 2006. (Across Latin America, gay rights movements are entering the mainstream, Javier Corrales writes in "Gays in Latin America: Is the Closet Half Empty?")

Unflagging pride: Young Israelis, one cloaked in a rainbow pride flag with the Star of David, revel at Tel Aviv's annual gay pride parade on June 12. About 20,000 people danced through the streets of the coastal city, considered one of the world's gay-friendliest and a "bastion of secularism" in Israel. Having taken place for the past nine years, the parade has received relatively little outcry from the country's religious community. Israel removed its ban on consensual same-sex sexual activity in 1988.

Following the rainbow: In Poland, about 1,500 people marched for pride down Warsaw's main Marszalkowska Street on June 13. They received a police escort, as previous gay rights demonstrations have been targets of violence. During communist times, homosexuality was a taboo topic in Poland; now, LGBT activists are calling for same-sex civil unions in the largely Catholic country. A Polish activist told Agence France-Presse that attitudes are beginning to change, "but the intolerance is still omnipresent, so much so that our parades are always useful."

Marching on: In Zagreb, Croatia, about 500 people paraded on June 13. Between 50 and 200 ultranationalists held a counterdemonstration filled with angry slogans such as "gays today, pedophiles tomorrow." The banner in the photo above refers to the Stonewall riots, which took place in response to a June 28, 1969, police raid at New York's Stonewall Inn, where many gay people socialized. The riots are seen by many as the modern starting point of the gay rights movement. People marched in other European cities on June 13 as well -- 200,000 in Rome, 2,000 in Athens, and some 3,000 in Strasbourg, France.

Straight and narrow? Some people aren't ready to embrace a rainbow world. On May 23, the day of Bucharest's pride parade, members of the far-right Romanian organization Noua Dreapta (The New Right) marched with signs reading, "No to homosexual marriages and adoptions." About 500 people were expected for the pride parade, and 300 for Noua Dreapta's "promote normality" parade. In previous years, people from extremist right-wing and religious groups have attacked pride parade participants. Eastern Europe tends to be less tolerant on LGBT issues than Western Europe, leading one Brussels-based activist to tell the BBC, "A pink curtain divides us."

Beating back: Activists from Colectivo Lesbico, Gay, Trans y Bisexual, an LGBT group, protest police abuse in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, on May 15, ahead of May 17's International Day Against Homophobia. At least 17 transgender people have been killed in public places in Honduras since 2004, according to an investigation by Human Rights Watch, and no one has been prosecuted in any of the cases. Many more have been victims of serious violence. In fact, even the police have been involved, engaging in physical and sexual assault, as well as extortion.

Wedded to a cause: A woman and her son protest Proposition 8 on May 26 in Hollywood, Calif. Approved by voters in a November referendum, the measure amended California's Constitution to define marriage as only been a man and a woman. It overturned a May 2008 ruling by California's Supreme Court that struck down laws banning same-sex marriage. On May 26, the court upheld Proposition 8, but said that the 18,000 same-sex marriages that took place before Proposition 8's passage would remain valid.

Finally getting the picture? Twelve years after China decriminalized homosexuality, the country held its first gay pride festival last week in Shanghai. There were some limitations. Parades, banners, and Chinese-language ads were prohibited. Organizers were also forced by authorities to cancel a play, a film showing, and a social mixer. The English-language China Daily featured an article about the festival, though no mention of it was made in the Chinese-language press. Above, Chinese painter Shi Tou displays her artwork about lesbian lovers, prepared for a Dec. 16, 2005, Beijing LGBT festival that authorities ended up cancelling.

Trailblazer: In February, Johanna Sigurdardottir, who has been in a civil union with her female partner since 2002, became the first openly gay leader of a country when she became prime minister of Iceland. In socially liberal Iceland, most people aren't concerned with their leader's sexual orientation. Iceland has allowed civil unions since 1996, and most countries that allow same-sex marriage or civil unions are in Europe. Above, Sigurdardottir gets powdered before a live TV debate on April 24.

The great debate: Scott Rennie, an openly gay minister who lives with his male partner, was appointed to Queen's Cross Church in Aberdeen, Scotland, in a 326-to-267 vote (with more than 300 abstaining) by the Church of Scotland's ruling body last month. He is the first openly gay minister of the Church of Scotland.* Above, Rennie rehearses a sermon in Brechin Cathedral on May 15 in Brechin, Scotland.

Sign of the times: A couple in Berlin on April 24 strolls by a poster featuring two men kissing. The poster is part of an awareness campaign sponsored by the German Gay and Lesbian Association. It reads, "Love deserves respect" in three languages, including Arabic. In Arab countries, same-sex relationships are strictly taboo. One book that provides a peek at lesbian relationships in Saudi Arabia is The Others, a bestselling novel by a 26-year-old Saudi woman that will be available in English in the United States late this summer.

Joining hands: Two men wearing traditional Swiss costumes walk toward the Europride parade in Zurich on June 6. About 50,000 people participated that day in the annual festival, which has been held in a different European city each year since 1993. In countries around the world, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people are gaining dignity and equal rights, despite opposition and setbacks. The closet doors have been opened, and for these activists, there's no going back inside.

*This updates a previous version that referred to the Church of Scotland as a member of the Anglican Communion. It is a Presbyterian church.