A pedestrian crossing outside the Russian embassy in Stockholm was late last week painted to rainbow colours, in what is being hailed as a protest against recently introduced anti-gay laws in Russia.

The photograph appeared on Saturday evening, and is being credited to human rights activist Claes Betsholtz, as he posted the image first.

Swedish news source SVT reported on Friday that the crossing had been painted in protest against the recently introduced laws, one of which bans homosexual “propaganda”, to mark the beginning of the World Athletics Championships in Moscow.

President Vladimir Putin signed the law in June banning the promotion of “non-traditional relationships” toward minors, a move that has been criticised as part of a broader crackdown on Russia’s gay community. Other laws banning the adoption of Russian children by foreign same-sex couples, and one which enables organisations receiving funding from abroad to be fined as “foreign agents”, were also passed.

Repainting your house with an unorthodox color scheme can sometimes make your neighbors a little touchy. Particularly, this house — and particularly, these neighbors. Aaron Jackson, who runs the nonprofit group Planting Peace, has painted his newly bought house in Topeka, Kansas with bright rainbow colors — the same as the Gay Pride Flag. But what makes this house special is that it sits right across the street from the Westboro Baptist Church.

Jackson, a self-described news junkie, used Google Earth to locate the church — an organization famous for its virulent anti-homosexual views and its tendency to picket military funerals. But as he zoomed in on the Westboro compound, he realized that the house right across the street had a “For Sale” sign on it. He immediately called a realtor and began drawing up plans to turn the building into a LGBTQ museum — and though zoning laws prohibited that plan he went ahead with the idea of painting the house the colors of the rainbow Pride Flag. Jackson’s mother, an artist, designed the color scheme and flew from Florida this week to help oversee the painters doing the work. Jackson wanted a professional paint crew, he says, because he “wanted [the house] to be taken seriously.” But after they got wind of what he had in mind, five painting companies didn’t return his follow-up calls; a realtor in Kansas City finally put him in touch with a company that was interested in helping out.