Gay rights campaigner, Mr Peter Tatchell, was yesterday convicted of indecent behaviour in a church following his Easter Sunday protest at Canterbury Cathedral.
Mr Tatchell (46) was fined £18.60 after being found guilty under the little-used Ecclesiastical Courts Jurisdiction Act.
The unusual fine was deemed to be a clear reference to the antiquated 1860 law which was last used more than 30 years ago.
Mr Tatchell's prosecution has sparked a high-profile campaign for the act, which prohibits "riotous, violent or indecent behaviour in a church" to be scrapped.
Canterbury stipendiary magistrate, Mr Michael Kelly, gave Mr Tatchell, the founder of gay pressure group OutRage, 28 days to pay the fine and the £320 costs. Mr Tatchell was charged after he and six other protesters disrupted morning Eucharist in the cathedral on April 12th as the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr George Carey, was delivering his sermon to the 1,000-strong congregation.
Dr Carey was forced to stand aside as Mr Tatchell joined him in the pulpit and accused him of abusing human rights by opposing the lowering of the homosexual age of consent and supporting the ban on gay clergy.
The other protesters stood on the pulpit stairs holding posters until police removed them.
Sentencing Mr Tatchell, Mr Kelly said: "It is always difficult to balance the right to protest and free speech against the right to belief and worship and I am sure that some people will have been disgusted and truly offended by your conduct.
"But I suspect that the vast majority would regard your conduct as an insignificant and transient incident in the history of a great cathedral."