A man who put a gun in his mouth and pulled the trigger in front of the altar in Paris’ Notre Dame Cathedral turns out to be an infamous nationalist who apparently was protesting France’s recent legalization of Marriage Equality.

Witnesses say 78-year old Dominique Venner put a gun in his mouth in front of scores of tourists inside the most-visited building in Paris.  He posted an essay on his website earlier in the day calling for “new, spectacular and symbolic actions” against the usual stuff, Gay Marriage and Sharia Law (which forbids Gay Marriage, btw).  Roman Catholicism preaches the suicide is a sin.

Venner was a member of a French nationalist terrorist group Organisation de l'Armee Secrete (OAS) which opposed the French withdrawal from Algeria and attempted several times to assassinate President Charles de Gaulle during the 1960s.  Most of his “history” books were right-wing and racist screeds about conspiracies to destroy the white race, and rationalizations of the pro-nazi Vichy regime of World War II.

Notre Dame’s rector Monsigneur Patrick Jacquin said that as far as he knows, this was the first suicide within the cathedral since it was founded in the 12th century.

13 Million people visit Notre Dame cathedral every year.