Vienna debuts same-sex pedestrian crossing signals

In addition to telling pedestrians when to walk, dozens of Vienna's traffic lights now promote a message of love and tolerance after being programmed to display same-sex couples instead of the traditional stop and go icons.

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Affecting signals at 49 intersections around the Austrian capital, the change coincides with the Eurovision Song Contest, which Reuters describes as "a fixture on the international gay calendar."

"The campaign is mainly targeted at raising awareness for traffic safety," a spokesperson for Vienna, Andreas Baur, told NBC. "But it is also pegged to the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest and the AIDS charity Lifeball in Vienna."