As Sacramento State professor David Rolloff entered Capitol Park on Sunday, he was angry and his voice was raspy from shouting at the daily protests he attended that were against the passage of Proposition 8, the measure banning same-sex marriage in the state.

Only 14 words, Proposition 8 amends the state’s Constitution to read, “Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.”

“I’m mad as hell,” Rolloff, who is gay, said. “This is an embarrassment to California.”

Rolloff’s sentiments echo those of many of the gay and lesbian community, who quickly mobilized on Nov. 5, the morning of following the passage of Proposition 8 by California voters in the election.

There have been daily protests in cities across the state, including Sacramento, since Proposition 8 passed.

Sunday’s rally at the State Capitol was the largest protest by far in Sacramento, with nearly 5,000 people statewide in attendance, according to California Highway Patrol crowd estimates.

At the daily protests, opponents of Proposition 8 carried signs harkening back to the civil rights era of the ’50s and ’60s, including those reading, “I am now a second class citizen,” and “Separate but equal is not equal.”

Gay and lesbian activists are drawing parallels between the current protests and the civil rights era. One speaker at Sunday’s rally told the crowd, “We are standing on the shoulders of the civil rights movement. Like those that came before us, we will not be defeated.”

Sac State sociology professors Charles Varano and Todd Migliaccio agreed that the current protests are similar to the struggle for civil rights for blacks.

Varano noted that the black civil rights movement began prior to the civil rights era. Many see it as beginning with the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education, which desegregated public schools. Varano said the gay and lesbian rights movement began in 1969 with the Stonewall riots in New York City when gay men took to the streets following a police raid of a gay bar, the Stonewall Inn, in the Greenwich Village neighborhood.

Proposition 8 was put on the ballot in response to a California Supreme Court decision in May legalizing same-sex marriage in the state. Between the legalization of these marriages and the passing of the measure, approximately 18,000 same-sex couples married in California.

Many people across the country saw the election of Barack Obama as the first black president of the United States, who won the popular vote 52 percent to 48 percent – the same margin Proposition 8 passed by in California – as a realization of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.’s 1963 “I Have a Dream” speech.

Migliaccio said many young gay and lesbians in the state cannot understand how the country could elect a black president and still deny them their rights.

“They are surprised and shocked,” Migliaccio said. “Our society hasn’t changed as much as (people) thought it had.”

Neil Wilson, a Proposition 8 supporter and one of only two counter-protestors at Sunday’s rally in Sacramento, said as a black man, he doesn’t believe that same-sex marriage is a civil rights issue.

“Banning gay marriage is not the same as banning interracial marriage between people of different colors or religions,” he said.

Wilson said he supported the measure because of his religious beliefs.

“We’re talking about how God sees it,” he said. “Certain things shouldn’t be altered.”

Blacks came out in high numbers this election to support Barack Obama. Normally making up 6 percent of the electorate at the polls in California, blacks come out as 10 percent of the voting public this year. While the vast majority of them voted for Barack Obama, 70 percent voted for Proposition 8, according to Associated Press exit polling on Election Day.

Varano sees this as one of the key differences between the civil rights movement of the ’50s and ’60s and the current gay and lesbian rights movement. He said in the earlier era, the nation saw a broad coalition of groups, especially religious organizations, come out in support of civil rights for blacks. He believes that is missing in the gay rights struggle.

“There was a moral component to the earlier civil rights movement where religion was used to justify the need for rights,” he said. “Now religion is being used to deny rights.”

Churches have led the fight against same-sex marriage in California, with members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) being some of largest contributors to the Yes on Proposition 8 coalition.

Following the passage of the initiative, the Mormon church has become a target of Proposition 8 opponents and the gay rights movement.

A march of thousands of protestors in Los Angeles targeted a Mormon temple on Thursday. The march shut down parts of Santa Monica Boulevard as did a march Sunday in Oakland.Anti-Mormon internet sites like Mormonsstoleourrights.com have sprung up since the passing of the measure. Many in the gay and lesbian community have called for a boycott on travel to the state of Utah, the center of the Mormon community. On Friday, a sign at a Mormon temple in Sacramento was vandalized with the words, “No on Prop 8” at the entrance to the temple.

Mormon church spokesperson Kim Farah released a statement on Friday calling the backlash against the church disturbing.

“While those who disagree with our position on Proposition 8 have the right to make their feelings known, it is wrong to target the church and its sacred places of worship for being part of the democratic process,” Farah said.

Many of the protestors at Sunday’s rally at the State Capitol carried signs denouncing the Mormon church, including one man whose sign played on the official name of the church, calling it, “The Church of Latter-day Hate.”

Katie Patterson, street team volunteer for the organization Equality Action Now at Sunday’s rally, said the goal of the protests are peaceful and that churches should not be targeted.

“It’s unfortunate that churches are being targeted. People are angry, but they should be taking part in peaceful protest action,” Patterson said. “(The Mormons) believe what they believe. We should respect that and not be engaging them in this way.”

While Varano sees a lack of a broad based coalition behind the gay rights movement, that may begin to change. Many of the protestors at Sunday’s rally were heterosexuals that opposed Proposition 8. Mandy and Steve Bryant of Sacramento brought their two children, Evan, 7, and Zoe, 5, to the rally.

Sac State student Darcy McGaffic, senior liberal studies major, attended Sunday’s rally and called herself a “straight mother against bigotry.” She said she felt that the driving force behind the rhetoric gay marriage opponents was hateful. She said the same language used now was used to support miscegenation laws banning interracial marriage in the 1960s.

“I hope that years from now that people who voted yes on the proposition and know someone who is gay will realize how much it hurt gays and will regret their vote,” McGaffic said.

Christine Chavez, granddaughter of late civil rights leader Cesar Chavez, is trying to build a broader coalition behind the gay rights movement. She travelled from East Los Angeles to Sacramento with her husband, Oscar, to speak as the keynote speaker at Sunday’s rally.

Chavez said her family has been working up and down the state in the Latino community to build a diverse coalition of activists, students and unions in support of gay rights.

“My grandfather used say, ‘You can’t champion equality for your own community if you allow discrimination to occur towards other communities,'” she said. “I have no doubt that if he were alive today he would be out here as a champion for this community.”

With more daily protests planned the question arises as to how long the gay rights movement can keep the protests going.Migliaccio believes that as the issue over Proposition 8 makes its way through the state and federal court systems daily protests will ‘drag and die off.”

On Nov. 5, the day following the election, the American Civil Liberties Union, Lambda Legal and the National Center for Lesbian Rights filed a lawsuit with the California Supreme Court asking that the initiative be invalidated.

Elizabeth Gill, attorney for the American Civil liberties Union, said Proposition 8 goes against an underlying principle of the California Constitution, which guarantees equality for all. She said for the Constitution to be changed so dramatically it must first be approved by the State Legislature and then presented to the voters. This did not happen with Proposition 8. Gill said that the court has in the past overturned voter approved initiatives that made similar changes to the state’s constitution.

Anthony Pugno, General Counsel for ProtectMarriage.com – the main proponents of Proposition 8, said in a press release that the lawsuit was without merit. He noted that the American Civil Liberties Union recently lost a court decision in Oregon where they made identical arguments over the same issue. Pugno said it is time for opponents of Proposition 8 to accept the will of the voters.

“The coalition that has worked so hard for the past year to enact Proposition 8 will vigorously defend the People’s decision against this unfortunate challenge by groups who, having lost in the court of public opinion, now turn to courts of law to pursue their agenda,” Pugno said.

The fate of the nearly 18,000 same-sex marriages performed in the state since June is now also in limbo.

Carol Gasper and Janna York married after the state Supreme Court decision and traveled to the Sacramento rally Sunday from South Lake Tahoe. They had previously registered as domestic partners under California law, which gives them many of the same rights as married couples. They said that in their marriage is voided they will still have those rights.

“It’s just a matter of wording,” York said.

California State Attorney General Jerry Brown made statements saying that California will continue to recognize same-sex marriages performed before Proposition 8 was passed. He said the proposition has contains no wording that makes it retroactive.

Opponents of gay marriage like Randy Thomasson, president of the Campaign for Children and Families, have issued press releases calling for the nullification of these marriages.

“The people of California have successfully overruled the judges and politicians and restored marriage licenses to a man and a woman. Now the false marriages done this summer must be declared null and void,” Thomasson said.

Brown believes the courts will uphold those marriages.

“I would think the court, in looking at the underlying equities, would most probably conclude that upholding the marriages performed in that interval before the election would be a just result,” said Brown in an Aug. 5, interview with the San Francisco Chronicle.

As for now, as the legal questions over Proposition 8 begins to work their way through the court system daily protests continue to be planned by opponents of the measure. Many anti-Proposition 8 protestors have vowed to come out daily until their voices have been heard and the measure is overturned.

“As a young, gay American I want to fight for my rights. It’s important to show our presence and keep fighting,” said Sac State student Tyler Ray, sophomore family and consumer science major.

Todd Wilson can be reached at [email protected].