A billboard calling for tolerance of homosexuals? That might fit the agenda of The Center for Civil and Human Rights, but it's not what the United States had in mind when they handed the Macedonian organization $20-grand (U.S.) in funding, and have made it clear that alternative lifestyles don't merit the U.S. seal of approval.

The Center began running ads in Macedonia featuring same-sex romance scenes under the caption, "Face Reality." Adorning the ads was the seal of the U.S. Embassy. And then the intolerants started noticing.

Macedonia's President Trajkovski was first to balk at America's poor judgement, but most vocal was Kerri Houston of Frontiers of Freedom, a self-described "forward-looking policy group" that doesn't like faggots.

"I remember looking at it and thinking, ‘What in the world is this doing in this conservative country?'" Houston recalls.

A State Department spokesperson assured frightened citizens that the U.S. had not approved the campaign. The billboards have since been removed.

» Scott Saxon