Kissing over Rome.

As Italian lawmakers debate giving marriage-like rights to same-sex couples, controversial Italian photographer Oliviero Toscani decided to stir things up. Among a series of billboards he shot for the trendy men's clothing line Ra-Re now appearing across Rome, one depicts a man groping a male partner, and another shows the two men kissing on a leather sofa.

"There's a big discussion going on about homosexuality in Italy, so I thought it was the right time to do something like this," Toscani told the U.K. newspaper The Observer.

But several local groups disagreed, including the parents' association MOIGE, which branded the ads as "vulgar" and demanded they be taken down.